The Phoenix Prince Saga
by Siobhan Recca
Summary: As of September 11, the Saga is officially a year old. Blessed Heavens, it really makes me wish I waited a week to start writing it...
1. The Failed Wedding

pRanma laid on the ground and stared groggily up at the sky  
while short-skirted girls leapt and raced about overhead and around  
him./p   
pAll through the chaos and destruction he could only come up   
with one thought./p  
p"How did I get dragged into all of this again?"/p  
  
h1 align="center"uThe Phoenix Prince Saga/h1/u  
brA Sailormoon and Ranma½ crossover of epic proportions./br  
  
pbuiBook One: The Nest/i/b  
briPart One: A New Home/u  
brChapter 1: The Failed Wedding/i  
  
pThe dojo was in shambles. The decorations lay in tattered wisps of ash and cinder about the oft-holed floor and walls. A small fire still flared up intermittently from the coals that had once made up a rather nice looking altar in the front. All in all, it was obvious that something drastic had occurred here during what should have been a happy joining of two like souls.  
pStanding in the midst of the chaos, Ranma Saotome slowly drops to his knees and heaves a heavy sigh as he gazes over the destruction. As always, nothing had gone as planned. Shampoo he could have expected, even Kuno was no problem. The fact that he brought a real katana was, but as it was Kuno, it was handled. No, the real shocker was Ukyo. He couldn't help but sigh again as he remembered her part in this mess. He had thought that she was his friend! What a fool.  
pNodoka watched as her long-lost son fought to reconcile himself with what had happened here mere hours before. Akane had yet to remerge from her room where she had rushed to only minutes after the wedding was called off. Nodoka still remembered how the poor girl looked with tears staining her face red with anger as she raced from the sight of her destroyed future in her ravished gown. This time it was Nodoka who sighed.   
pi'Perhaps it was for the best, after all. Ranma and Akane are both so young. Getting married like this, being forced into it, and everything probably would have destroyed any chance they may have had for happiness,'/i She thought. i'Some time apart would do them good… That's exactly it! I'll take Ranma with me when I go home, and learn just who this 'man among men' is that I call my son!'/i  
p"Ranma?"   
p"Hai, Okaa-san?" the young man in the center of the room responded, finally looking up with eyes that were much older than they should have been.  
p"I have been thinking, son. It is time for you to come home. This time when I leave, you shall come with me."  
p"Hai, Okaa-san. B-but whadda 'bout Akane?"   
p"She shall remain here, of course. You need some time apart. My honorable husband and his friend have been very forceful in their attempts to get you together. This time separate may be just what you need."  
p"Hai, Okaa-san. I gotta say that I ain't really happy with all this, though."  
pNodoka winced slightly at the peasant lingo issuing from her son's mouth.   
pi'Obviously, my honorable husband does not believe that a man among men should sound like intelligent creature. Disgraceful. Something will be done about that.'/i  
p"I understand that, son. However, it shall be dealt with in time. Of this, I am certain." Nodoka paused for a second, "Son, I wish a boon."  
p"A boon? What's that?"  
pNodoka winced again, before continuing. "A favor, son. A boon is a favor."  
p"Well, why didn't cha say that in the first place?! What is it?" he asked suspiciously.  
pNodoka suppressed a groan before continuing. "I need for you to get your many girls to promise not to come visit you for any cause during the time which you are with me."  
p"How the hell am I supposed ta do that?! Ya don't know these girls! Shampoo's been chasing me for the past two years, Ukyo's been at it for over ten years! How the hell should I keep them away?!"  
p"I do not know, son. All I ask is that it is done."  
pRanma thought about it for a moment before agreeing, albeit tentatively. "Ok. But, ya don't mean Akane, do ya?!"  
p"Yes, I most definitely mean Akane."  
pFor a moment, Ranma looked ready to argue, but a glance at the bundle in Nodoka's arms quelled that thought. A disturbing thought for Nodoka, that her "man among men" son should fear for his life.  
p"Hai, Okaa-san, it shall be done."  
  
p align="center"**********/p  
  
pThree days later, Ranma and Nodoka stood before the Tendo compound with their possessions. Before them stood Soun, Nabiki, Genma, and Kasumi. Akane was no where to be seen, a fact that was not lost on a bewildered Ranma.   
p"Farewell, gracious hosts and honorable husband. I thank thee for harboring my son until I could come to retrieve him. May many honors fall upon thy house." Nodoka said with a bow.  
p"Farewell, honorable visitor. We send with thee our well wishes and hope for a quick and safe journey home. May honor fall upon thy house." Kasumi replied with a bow, speaking for the main part of her family, as Soun was in tears.  
p"Uh, bye y'all. It's been real... and it's... uh, been uh, fun..." Ranma began, scratching the back of his head.  
p"But it ain't been real fun." Nabiki finished for him. "See you around, Ranma-kun. You better make sure you come back for the panda, or I'll start adding his room and board to the fees you owe me."  
pIt was as close as Nabiki ever would get to saying that she would miss Ranma.  
p"Uh, sure." Ranma just smiled and nodded. "Um, wouldya, um that is, since Akane's not here and all, ya know. Wouldya give this to her?"   
pNabiki takes the proffered letter with a feral smile.  
p"Why of course Ranma-kun! I'd be more than happy too!"  
p"For a fee, right? Here. It's all I got on me."  
pNabiki just shrugs as she takes the few hundred yen and heads back in the house.  
p"I guess that's it, Okaa-san."  
pThe two lift their bags and turn to leave. It's not for several blocks before either is heard to speak again.  
p"So where is it that you live anyways, Okaa-san?"  
p"Juuban, son."  
p"Any weird stuff there?"  
p"Oh, there are a few youma attacks here and there every once and a while. We normal people generally do not get involved though."  
p"Good."  
p"Why is it that you ask?"  
p"Just wanna make sure that I'd fit in. That's all."  
  
p align="center"**********/p  
pAuthor's Notes: Well, welcome to the Phoenix Prince Saga. Don't worry, things get more exiting as they progress! Please Review!  
pDisclaimer: I, in no way, shape, form, or fashion either own or have permission to use the original characters and settings found in Ranma 1/2 or Sailormoon. I'm also not making any money off of this. Not that anyone would be willing to pay for it...  
  



	2. The Move

Ethan Frome

_Chapter 2: The Move_

"Saotome Ranma! Prepare to Die!" 

The voice echoed and rebounded off of the walls of the narrow passageway. Ranma shucked his pack and dropped into one of his standard loose battle stances. His eyes darted about the suddenly endangering corridor. His subconscious was working overtime assessing the situation at hand. In fact, if a person could, for a short period of time, hear the inner workings of the amazing piece of the analytical engine so focused on warfare, that person just might hear something like the following.

__

'Item one, standard entrance speech for Kuno, Ryouga, Mousse, Pantyhose, or even Kirin. Fact one, serves as locator for possible threat to personage. Fact two, no visible opponents. Item two, judging from aural markings, tonal quality, and inflection, voice is mechanical. Fact one, unknown factor. Fact two, higher level of danger than previously assigned is noted. Danger level upgraded to Phoenix Apparent. Item three, no visible opponents, (refer also to Item one, Fact two.) Fact one, all previous opponents refuse to hide. Fact two, not like any previous opponents. Fact three, danger level higher than previously assigned. Danger level upgraded to Phoenix Ascendant. Item four, innocents within area. Fact one, closest innocent is Okaa-sama. Fact two, danger level for innocents is noted at extreme in highest regard. Fact three, code of martial artist states that innocents are to be protected. Fact four, Extreme Level Of Danger To Self Noted. Danger level upgraded to Phoenix Ultimate. Item five, danger level noted for last opponent is noted as only reaching Phoenix Ascendant Stage Two, (refer also to Opponent Record, Saffron, Phoenix. Refer also to Ally Record, Tendo, Akane, Saffron, Phoenix. Refer also to Place, Jusendo, Curse, Secondary, Akane, Saffron, Phoenix.) Fact one, danger level is currently focused at Phoenix Ultimate Stage One. Fact two, death very nearly occurred multiple times throughout battle with last opponent. Fact three, death very nearly occurred to innocents multiple times throughout aforementioned battle. Fact four, health is not at maximum at this time, (refer also to Opponent Record, Saffron, Phoenix, Battle. Refer also to Ally Record, Tendo, Akane, Inazuke, Wedding, Failure, Battle) Fact five, death is rated at over 84.1647745% likelihood to self. Fact six, death is rated at over 98.316422167234% likelihood to innocents. Course of Action? Thinking… Thinking… Thinking… Course of Action Decided. Course of Action, with 96.13623% success ratio, Is The Saotome Ultimate Move.'

Which was exactly what was going on in the sub-consciousness of Saotome Ranma at that moment. Whoever said Ranmanever used his head for anything but a battering ram never fought him, either with or against. Back to the moment, though.

Ranma snatched his pack back up, swinging it back onto his back, then lifted Nodoka up off the ground into his arms.

"It's 'bout time we're getting outta here, Okaa-san." 

"Saotome Ranma! You are a man among men! You will NOT run away from a honorable death in battle!"

"'Honorable death in battle'?! Hell no I wouldn't run away! But, in case ya haven't noticed, there ain't no opponents here to honorably kill me! This ain't 'honorable death in battle', Okaa-san! This is dishonorable, sneaking around, belly-grubbin', cowardly scum trying to blow my ass up! And yer's to if ya didn't notice! So we're getting outta here!"

With that, Saotome Ranma leapt high into the air, alighting lightly in a perfect two-point, running landing on the roof of the building next to them. He promptly ignored gravity as he leapt once more. Seven roofs, and several blocks away, a brilliant explosion lit the Nerima sky.

"That was close…"

Ranma and Nodoka finally set down in an alleyway within the realm of the Juuban District. Setting Nodoka on her feet, Ranma lightly dusted himself off, then reached around and tugged a foot long chunk of shrapnel out of his back pack. Finally noticing it, he tossed it off to the side with a shrug. Seeing this, Nodoka's mood visibly improved. 

"Well, we're here, I guess. Sorry about the trip, Okaa-san. It woulda been slower, but I hadda get ya outta there."

"It is of no consequence, my son. We have arrived, and certainly faster than I had originally thought."

Ranma chuckled, rubbing the back of his head lightly, before setting off. 

**********

It was the end of the alleyway, not the alleyway itself which caused the problem for the juvenile martial artist and his mother. Lounging about there were six of the unsavory types that Ranma generally scorned and Nodoka avoided. Crimson Dragons, judging by the similar tattoo which embellished their bared forearms. 

"Eh? Lookit what we got here, boys!" chuckled the apparent leader, a tallish Asian with a mohawk hair-style and red leathers. "A couple a prizes what walked into our backyard!"

Ranma had dropped his pack as soon as he had spotted the Dragons. He didn't need the extra weight slowing him down. None of them probably had anywhere near the skill or power he had, but they definitely won the numbers racket. He dropped into his favorite stance and appeared to relax slightly.

"Give us all yer yen, kid, and we might think 'bout lettin ya live!"

"And what if I don't wanna?"

"We'll jest take it from ya! Get 'em!"

As the foolish Dragons rushed her son, Nodoka stood back and watched with a smile. There was simply nothing which made the mother so proud as watching her son beat the living stuffing out of street punks. Ranma was in his element here. The alleyway was so narrow that only three of the punks could get to him at a time. With only five of the six attacking, they were severely limited as to their attacking ratios to three on one, then two on one. As it was, the first three that rushed him, were new recruits that never fought in a gym, let alone the winner-takes-all world of the street battle. They did have the distinction of lasting two minutes against one of the world's premiere martial artists before well placed blows sent them reeling into the world of unconsciousness, at least.

The next two that came at him were understandably wary. They had just watched three of their members get creamed by a boy. Butterflies whipped out of sheaths and pockets and whirled their clever circles about the hands of their owners before popping blade out into the palm. Thus armed, the two would-be robbers advanced cautiously towards the smiling combative virtuoso. Ranma just let loose one of his patented lady-killer smiles and watched their distinctive sidling stride as they advanced. They were obviously blade brawlers, their silky smooth handling of the twin blades in their hands and step-cross-step way of moving, occasionally shifting weight and grip as they walked to keep balanced and dry palmed. As they came within range, Ranma's eyes narrowed, then he struck. A spinning roundhouse followed immediately by a eagle fisted right hook to the left temple eliminated the first of two. Normally, this would scare off the other opponent, but this time he just gulped dryly and kept coming. 

Ranma didn't care for this in the least. First fisting his hands so tight the knuckles cracked audibly, he then suddenly relaxed into a low crouch. A loose, empty hand flew towards his attacker's throat, while the other, fisted lightly, zoomed into the gut. Right before striking, the fist clenched tight, and the man folded around his hand. He would have flown off, but a firm grip on his neck ended that thought. Ranma stood, and tossed his defeated opponent aside negligently. 

His face was void of emotion. He hadn't wanted to be forced to such levels of violence on the poor jerk who had attacked him, but he wasn't angry at him. He was angry with the leader. The man who was at this moment aiming a gun at his head. Most intelligent people would realize that Ranma Angry was not a thing to point a gun at. Unfortunately, this man was neither intelligent or most people. No, this was an idiot with a gun. A dangerous combination. And Saotome Ranma was NOT in the mood for dangerous combinations OR idiots, with guns or not. 

Ranma blurred. Using the Kashuu Tenshin Amigurken speed technique on his legs instead of his arms increased his running motion ten-fold. The leader never knew what hit him. Oh, well, I suppose he knew, but he certainly didn't realize it at the time. It probably felt like a 18-wheeler after all. 

Ranma stood over his crushed adversary without even a hint of the levels he had just gone to evident, grinding the illegal pistol to fragments under his foot. He glared about, but when no further hint of danger met his roaming gaze, he relaxed. Turning to his mother, he smirked. She applauded. 

"Jeez, Okaa-san! It wasn't that good!"

**********

Two and a half hours later, Ranma was a girl and they still hadn't reached the house. The buxom, carmine tressed girl trudged along under the weight of her pack and, by this point, her mother's pack as well. She wasn't too thrilled about the idea of carrying it all for much longer. Besides, from the looks of things, they were edging back out of Juuban.

"Uh, Okaa-san? Not to be disrespectful or nothin', but do ya know how to get home?"

"Oh yes, son. I asked this nice, young traveler when you were yelling at poor elderly woman who splashed you."

Ranma-chan visibly blanched at the thought of her mom talking to a 'nice, young traveler'.

"Um, Okaa-san? By any chance did this 'nice, young traveler' have a big pack on his back with an umbrella?"

"Um, yes… yes, I believe he did."

"He wasn't, by any chance, wearing a yellowish tunic thingie, dingy brown pants, and a yellow and black bandana, was he?"

"Yes, and he had the most adorable little fangs!"

"Oh no."

"What is it, son?"

"Ryouga."

"Ryo-who?"

"Ryouga. I knew him from school when I was little." She winced, "I really wish you hadn't gotten directions from him, Okaa-san."

"And why not, son?"

"Ryouga couldn't find his way outta a paper bag with a knife, if ya get my drift."

"No, son. I am afraid I do not."

"Ryouga gets lost."

"That is no reason to be rude."

"No, ya don't get it! Ryouga gets **lost**! I mean, he can't read a map! If you tell him which way, he goes the other way! He can get lost trying to find the **bathroom**, for crying out loud!"

"Well, why did you not say so earlier, son?"

"I did. Now, can you please tell me the address so I can find it on this map?"

**********

It had taken them over six hours of travelling and stopping for direction, but they had triumphed! Finally, Nodoka's ancestral home stood, or rather loomed, before the pair in the street outside the gate. 

"*That's* your house?!"

"Our house, son. And soon, yours and Ak… your wife's, whom ever she may be."

"I never realized it was so… so… big."

"That is alright, son. The Hino Residence deserves such eloquence."

"Hino?! I thought this was the Saotome Residence!"

"Hino is my maiden name, son. Saotome… that is your father's…"

"Hino, huh? Hey! That'll work out great! I can be Hino Ranko!"

"You may have a problem there, son. There are other family members in the area, who would know that you are not a Hino. It is best that you continue on as Tendo Ranko, for this time. Or Saotome Ranko, if you wish a change."

"Uh.. ok, Okaa-san."

"Now, why do we not enter the house and leave the street? There is hot water available in the kitchen, first room to the right as you step from the entryway. Or the furo, first room past the main stairs on the second floor. Your room is upstairs, third on the left. I shall be in the garden."

With that, the pair entered and then split off to their separate paths. Ranma-chan leapt up the stairs, two at a time, and dumped her pack in the third room on the left, and her mother's two doors down. Another brief jaunt into the unknown brought her to the furo, and a waiting tub of steaming water. 

She washed quickly, then lowered her aching body into the sweltering water. Seconds later, Ranma, male again, relaxed against the back of the furo. 

__

'I could get used to this. No Shampoo, no headaches, no challenges, no panda, no Nabiki or Soun, no Kuno, no Ukyo, no nutball, … no Akane… ah, who'm I kidding? I ain't gonna get used to this. I'll be goin' back to the Tendo's after a while, then back to the chaos. I'll never escape the pull of that house. I always go back to it.'


	3. Introductions To Juuban

Chapter 3 __

Chapter 3: Introductions To Juuban

"Son?"

Nodoka's light tap and hail floated into the spacious room, just as Ranma was shrugging into a black shirt, having crossed the hall to his room in his boxers and undershirt. His fingers flew to the frogs and danced them closed all around. Then he finally opened the door. 

"Sorry, Okaa-san. I was finishin' puttin' on my shirt."

"That is alright, son. If you would come downstairs, I have someone whom I would like for you to meet."

"Ok. Lead the way, Okaa-san!"

Ranma and Nodoka filed slowly down the stairs to the main room, where a young girl was sitting. Seeing the brunette sitting on the sofa, her back to them, he looked to his mother with accusing eyes.

"'Kaa-san, you didn't!" he hissed.

"Did not do what, son?" she replied, keeping her voice low.

"I'm already engaged, 'Kaa-san!"

"Foolish boy! Kino-san is not to be engaged to you! She is here as a friend, to show you around!" Nodoka glared at the black headed boy.

"Gomen, Okaa-sama…" 

The pair walked around so that they were visible to Kino-san. She stood in response. A tall, leggy brunette with a rather pretty face, Kino-san would generally draw the eye of any self-respecting teenage boy who was worth his salt. Unfortunately for her today though, Ranma was not a normal teenage boy. Plus, he just wasn't interested in her in that way. She sighed for a second at seeing a gorgeous, built, young man in front of her, then bowed.

"Konnichi wa, Saotome-san. Watashi wa Kino Makoto desu."

"Uh, Konnichi wa, Kino-san. Watashi wa Saotome Ranma desu."

"Pleased to meet you, Saotome-san."

"Please, call me Ranma. Saotome-san is my father, not me."

"Alright, Ranma-san. And you may call me, Makoto."

"Hai, Makoto-san."

"Ranma, Makoto-san is here to escort you around town, today."

"I do not need an escort!"

"She is to be your guide, Ranma."

"Oh… ok."

**********

After pleasantries were exchanged, and tea drank, Makoto and Ranma left the house to journey into the Juuban District Shopping Area. 

"So, where to, Ranma-san?"

"Uh… do you know of any training grounds?"

"In Juuban?!"

**********

Finally, after trailing Makoto all over Juuban, Ranma was getting bored. Not to mention a bit hungry. Or unwilling to say "Makoto-san" again…

"Say, Makoto, isn't there any good place to hang out and maybe grab a bite to eat?"

"I know just the place, Ranma!"

And so, Ranma was introduced to the intricacies of the life of the Crown Arcade. And some of the people who could be found there on an average day.

"Mako-chan! Over here!!" yelled a blonde from across the room.

Makoto led Ranma across the room to the table where four of her best friends were hanging out. They sat down in the cleared spaces.

"Hey, Mako-chan! Who's your new boyfriend?!"

Makoto blushed. "He's not my boyfriend, guys! Honest! I'm just showing him around. His name's Saotome Ranma. Ranma, I'd like you to meet my friends. This is Tsukino Usagi, -"

Tsukino-san jumped up and bowed rapidly, somehow managing to grab Ranma's hand and shake it at the same time. 

"You can call me Usagi, Saotome-san!"

"Arigoto, Usagi-san. Please, everyone call me Ranma."

"Hai, Ranma-san!" chorused the table.

"- Aino Minako, -"  
The other blonde waved with a big grin.

"Just call me Minako, Ranma-san! I'm sure we'll be great friends!"

"Ah… h-h-hai, Minako-san…"

"- Hino Rei, -"

The raven haired girl stood and offered her hand to Ranma, who shook it.

"Pleased to meet you, Ranma-san. You may call me Rei."

"Arigoto, Rei-san. By any chance do you happen to know a Hino Nodoka?"

"Auntie Nodoka? She's papa's sister. Why do you ask?"

Ranma let loose with one of his lady killer smiles, instantly winning the unattached girls, and a couple of the attached ones for an instant. "She's my mother. It's good ta meetcha, cousin!"

Rei went into a sort of shock.

"- Ah, and this is –"

"Akane?! What're ya doin' here?!"

"No, no, no, her name's Ami… Mizuno Ami."

Ranma flushed. "Gomen, Mizuno-san. It's just that you look so much like my inazuke, Tendo Akane. Have you two ever met?"

Everyone at the table kind of deflated when they heard he was engaged. Well, everyone but Ami…

"Please, call me Ami. No, I am afraid I have not had that distinctive pleasure, Ranma-san. Though it is a great compliment to hear that I resemble your true love in some fashion."

"True love?! As if! She's just a kawaiikunee tomboy, who's too violent for her own good, can't swim, is flat as a stick, built like a brick, and on top of all that, she can't stay outta trouble ta save her life!" 

"B-b-but, you said she's your inazuke…" Usagi stuttered.

"Yeah, pops and Tendo-san arranged it when we were **little**…" 

"So, you don't like each other?! Not even in the least?!" Minako's eyes gleamed like a fox sighting a rabbit.

"Like her? Well, yeah, I **like** her… I mean, she's stood up for me 'n helped me out lots, 'n stuff like that, so, yeah, I suppose I do **like** her 'n all. I just always thought ya hadta more than **like** a person ta get married and all! I mean, if all ya hadta do was **like** a person to get married and live happily ever after, I'da married Ucchan a looong time ago!"

"U-u-ucchan…?" Makoto stammered, her mind starting to overload.

"Yeah, Kuonji Ukyo. Pop engaged me to her for her pop's yatai and then ditched her. She was… is… no, was, my best friend. However, she blew up mine 'n Akane's wedding, which wasn't cool, so I can't really see her as a friend no more."

"She blew up your wedding?!" Usagi was shocked. 

"How many inazuke do you **have**, Ranma?!" Minako's eyes had gone from the gleam of a hunter to a sort of glaze.

"Uh, yeah, with Okonomiyaki bombs and, at last count, three that I know about and one nutball."

"T-t-three?" Minako was starting to go into shock.

"Nutball?" Makoto, having recovered slightly from the overload, was getting curious.

"Okonomiyaki **bombs**??" Ami, of course, wasn't fazed by the romantic bits, she was more interested in the scientific and mechanical aspects.

"Three, Shampoo, she's Chinese Amazon, and it was an accident, honest! I didn't mean to beat her! Ukyo, and Akane. Nutball is psycho rich bitch named Kuno Kodachi who **thinks** I'm engaged to her. Likes to poison things and if you ever meet her, don't accept **anything** from her, but especially not **roses**! They got stuff in 'em! Okonomiyaki bombs is a result of Ukyo's school of martial arts."

"School of Martial Arts?" Makoto, the maiden warrioress, perked up at the mention of some, yet unknown, styles of fighting.

"How'd you survive getting blown up?!" Usagi, almost as curious as the proverbial cat, piped up.

"Kuno? I think I've heard of her in my botany classes." Ami mused.

"Chinese Amazon?" Minako, having only heard of Greek Amazons, puzzled.

"You only know about three?!" Rei blurted, finally recovering from being in the direct line of fire from Ranma's Lady-Killer.

"Yeah, martial arts. I know about maybe ten people who aren't martial artists. I'm the heir to the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts and my mother's school now, I guess. Akane's the heir to the Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial Arts and Dojo. Ukyo is the heir to the Kuonji School of Martial Arts Okonomiyaki. Shampoo is the sorta the Heir to the Joketsuzoku Amazon Martial Arts Techniques, her great-grandmother, Cologne is the Head Matriarch of the village. Kuno is the Heir, or maybe the Grandmaster, of the Kuno School of Kendo, or something like that anyways. Ryouga is the wandering Grandmaster of the Hibiki School of Indiscriminate Grappling. So, as you see, we're all pretty much **up** there. Besides, haven't ya ever heard of the Nerimian battles?"

"No, I don't think so…" Makoto started, surprised that any group of warriors that renowned had actually lived near her and she hadn't known about it.

"Well, I'm sure something will end up happening around here. Those kind of things usually tend to follow me about."

"Well, I don't know about the rest of you but I heard someone talking about how the Crimson Dragons got trashed in a fight! They keep claiming that a youma attacked them and they fended it off, but I don't believe that!" Minako, always the first with juicy gossip, interrupted before things had a chance to get weirder.

"Crimson Dragons? Those wouldn't be a bunch of punks in red with a red dragon tattooed on their forearms, would it?"

"That description sounds correct, Ranma-san." Ami replied.

"Oh… they weren't important were they?"

"You mean besides beating people up and stealing from school kids? No." Rei interjected dryly.

"Good. Now I don't feel so bad about knocking them around. They tried to rob Okaa-san!"

"By the Moon! I heard they had a gun!"

"Maybe." Ranma said, completely brushing off the odd explicative from Usagi as he glanced up at the clock. "Geez, it's getting late. I better get home. School tomorrow. Yuck."

Ranma stood and bowed to his hosts. 

"Glad to meetcha all. I hope I'll see y'all again. Bye!" 

Then Ranma dashed out of the arcade and back towards home, leaving five very curious girls behind him.

**********

The next morning, Ranma was up with the sun. A quick workout, bath, change into a gray version of his usual getup, and a delicious breakfast from his mother saw him out and about on his way to his new school, teachers, classes, and classmates. 

**********

A brief stop by the principal's office for his schedule then off to homeroom. He waited outside of the door for a moment, before being called in.

"Class, today I would like you to meet a new transfer student from the Nerima District. He has been assigned to this class until such time that he may be transferred to a class more receptive of his age. This is Saotome Ranma."

"Pleased to meet y'all."

"Tell us something about yourself, Saotome."

"Um.. ok. I've been training in martial arts since I was three years old, since I'm the heir to the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts. I've traveled around the world on foot. Twice. In the name of training. I spent two years journeying through China to learn the arts there. I used to live at the Tendo Dojo, but I recently moved in with my mother. Currently, I am engaged to Tendo Akane, the heir to the Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial Arts, in order to combine the two schools into one with our children. Uh.. is that enough?"

"Quite, Saotome-san. If you could just take that empty seat next to Hino-san, then all will be fine. Hino-san, if you could please stand?"

"Oh, that's alright, Sensei. I can find my cousin just fine."

"Cousin? You are related to Hino, Saotome?"

"Of course, her pop and Okaa-san are brother and sister."

"Oh yes. That is correct. Nodoka-san spoke to me about you. Thank you, Saotome-san. You may take your seat now."

Ranma flopped into his seat, and proceeded to zone out everything in a martial arts mediation procedure. 

**********

Much to the sensei's ire, the young Saotome managed to deflect anything thrown at him without waking up, or looking stupid. Eventually, the sensei, like every other one that had attempted to teach Ranma when he didn't want to learn, gave him up as a lost cause and went on trying to teach the savable members of the class. Rei, normally the teacher's pet, spent the entire class period, and much of the rest of the day, sending her gatherings about her newfound cousin to the Sacred Fire at the shrine.

__

End Part One


	4. Practice At The Saotome Residence

Chapter 4 __

Part Two: Life Struggles On

Chapter 1: Practice At The Saotome Residence

Nodoka awoke on the first Sunday that Ranma was a member of her household not to the peaceful sounds of silence that she generally associated with a languid awakening on a tranquil Sunday morning. Far from it in fact. This morning she awoke by leaping straight up out of bed, scrabbling for the ancestral Hino Katana. Which of course, she fumbled as soon as she got a hold of it. 

A light rosen hue tinted her cheeks for a moment as she looked down at the katana sticking up out of the floor at her feet. Then another cry from the outside called to her. A brief tug-o-war with the floor regarding the possession of the ancient blade later, she raced out the door to the backyard, following the sounds to their source with a hopefully firm grip on the katana.

**********

The sight that met her questing eyes was a disturbing one. Her son was engaged in the Art of massive destruction. Rubble from what had once been three stacks of cinder blocks covered the yard and garden. Dust was everywhere. As she watched, he completed another set of moves against a forth stack and destroyed them with a loud ki-yah. At least that is what it seemed. He had just finished striking the bricks several times, then stepped back and _yelled_ at it, and they exploded. 

If that wasn't enough for Nodoka's poor mind, he looked quite proud of himself at the destruction as well. It was all a mother could do not to run screaming at him with blade upraised. Well, all a mother and a rather clumsy kendoist could do. She didn't really feel like loosing a hand over the mess. Or her head for that matter. 

That's not saying that she had no other option though.

**********

"Son?"

Ranma paused in the middle of a kata, paused eerily in balance standing on one foot perched on the large stone centerpiece of the garden while the other hooked in the air. He looked to his mother curiously, not bothering to lower his floating foot.

"Hai, Okaa-san?"

Nodoka spoke with deceptive calm. Outside, she was the calm and cool mother that he had ever known. Inside, she was a raging maelstrom of fury at the destruction her only begotten son had done to her beautiful garden.

"What are you doing, Son?"

Ranma blinked. Wondering where she was going, or maybe just if she was playing with all of the game pieces, he lowered his foot and straightened up. 

"I'm practicin', Okaa-san."

"Practicing what, Son?"

"My Art. Why?" His voice began to pick up the qualities of a person dealing with someone who wasn't quite all there and armed to boot.

"Why do you question me, Son?"

"'Cause I wanna know why yer askin' me dumb questions!" 

Ranma wasn't mad, just frustrated, but how was Nodoka to know something like that? She had only recently met the disillusioned man who's father had taken away from her so very long ago. She didn't have the inside advantage that many mother's shared over their children because of this. Unfortunately, this generally translated as misinterpretation of the facts.

"Saotome Ranma! Do not send your wrath at me! I am your mother! I am allowed to know these things!"

Ranma was slowly edging into anger, but he kept his mouth shut for once and just let his self-proclaimed mother rant.

"First, I am alarmed into wakefulness thinking that my home is under assault from ninjas or something! Then I come outside to find that my first assumption was incorrect! My home is not under assault from ninjas or anything like that! My home is under assault from the most unexpected of sources! My home is under assault from my **son**! Because what do I find?! I find that my garden, which I have spent countless amounts of time and effort on, destroyed! Rubble everywhere! Dust everywhere out here and inside my clean house! What do you expect me to think, Son?! You have destroyed in one morning what has taken me over fifteen years to create!"

Ranma didn't feel angry anymore. Just really, really guilty.

"Now I am going to have to spend my entire day fixing this … this **mess** you have created of what was once beauty! I had meant to spend the day getting to know my **son** better, but apparently he has better ideas upon how to spend his time! Well, **son** since apparently you cannot keep from destroying things **here** this morning, perhaps you should take yourself and your **Art** elsewhere!"

Ranma, despite what most people said about him, was not an idiot. He knew when he wasn't wanted around. A quick hop up into his room gave him some cash for lunch, and possibly dinner if Nodoka was still furious by then, then he leapt to the street and began to run. He had a general idea of where he was going. There had been a park that Makoto had shown him yesterday. It was quiet and pretty secluded. He figured that he could probably do some training there, if not at home. Maybe even a few ki practices. 

**********

__

'Alright. Now, if I focus on the Soul of Ice technique **and** my Moko Takabushi at the same time, maybe I can figure out a way to use a cold attack like the Toppatsu Higi Hyouga Reppou Soku without being shoved in a freezer for several hours.'

Saotome Ranma was thinking. Something that generally didn't seem to happen to the youthful martial artist, but nevertheless that was what he was doing. The ebon haired, god-like warrior sat in sezia in the middle of a out of the way glade in the park. His eyes were closed and his expression completely neutral. This, his position, and his style of clothing are the most likely cause of why he was not disturbed. He appeared to be meditating. 

***********

After a time, the continued focus of ki within and around him began to have physical effects. In other words, he began to radiate a rather bright and visible aura in a extreme area of the visible light spectrum, edging noticeably into ultra-violet. The brilliant, silvery light which now surrounded him skidded back and forth between visible and invisible spectrums of light, causing a strange shimmering to fill the air from the intense cold.

**********

Of course, as he was sitting in Juuban District, home of the Sailor Senshi and the site of much assorted weirdness in the form of ki and magic manipulative youma, it was probably not the best of times, or places. Not too many blocks away, in the apartment shared by Dahlia Mizuno-san and her daughter, Ami, an almost subsonic beeping sound began to ring in the cerulean tinted room that belonged to the youngest resident. The apartment's sole occupant reached out of the cave of bed sheets she had created, groped blindly about, and, finally, drug the offending object to where she could peer at it, still bleary-eyed despite it being nearly noon. 

It figured. She finally managed to crawl into bed after spending a straight 36 hours studying, and what happens? Senshi business, that's what. Sometimes she had to seriously ponder exactly what it was that kept her from giving it all up. The answer was always the same though, no matter what happened. She had to, because no one else would, could, do it for her. Finally alert again, or at least not asleep, she pops the top of the miniaturized supercomputer.

There, blinking its crimson blotch on the Juuban map, a massive power surge. Sure, maybe the ID of the blip was a bit strange. And the location was prone to attacks from various, and progressively higher powered youma, so going by herself would probably be a bad idea. However, this time Mizuno Ami, the strategic human supercomputer of the Sailor Senshi, didn't really care about any of that. She set the Mercury Computer to alert the others in a short time, just before raising a sapphire pen to the heavens and crying out a simple phrase that made a world of difference. 

"Mercury Crystal Power, make up!"

As the waters flashed and crystallized around her, she debated seriously about her current choice of action. Notwithstanding all of that, she finally came to the proprietorship of two facts. One, she was rather annoyed with this whole mess. And two, somebody had woke her up after she had **finally** managed to crawl into bed for some much needed slumber. Any other mitigating factors were shoved to the side or disqualified in the face of one singular overwhelming Truth.

Someone or something was gonna pay **big** time for waking **her** up!

**********

Mercury dropped to the ground 200 meters from where Ranma sat secluded, having kept to the roofs and upper branches of localized trees to avoid the gossiping public. The park was empty of any visitors, even though it was a beautiful day. This fact Mercury attributed to the fact that the grove she was rapidly approaching was emanating waves of palatably frigid air. Even 150 meters away, she could feel the first touches of frost forming on her costume. She shivered when she thought of how bad it would have to be closer to the epicenter. 

**********

Mercury came to a halt, at long last, within the arctic confines of the frozen, beech ringed grove. A ice covered humanoid figure sat in sezia in the middle of the grove. It didn't move, threatening or otherwise, but that didn't stop Mercury from making a speech to it.

"You woke me up!! You are going to pay for that!!" 

Ok, so maybe it wasn't much of a speech…

**********

Looking back on the events that occurred at that moment, Mercury would eventually realize how insanely stupid it had been to try to physically attack her opponent when she knew absolutely nothing about it. But from that day on, she always claimed it was the sleep deprivation acting, not her. That never did stop the others from teasing her about it though.

__


	5. The First Struggle

Chapter 5 __

Chapter 2: The First Struggle

As soon as her glove incased fist touched the ice shroud, it moved. With a convulsive shudder that threw her away from it, it shattered its ice covered form and reemerged from its glacial cocoon.

**********

Ranma-chan stretched for a moment, knocking off the stray piece of ice here and there. A brief twisting of her body cleared the rest of herself of ice. She yawned, popped her neck, and cracked her knuckles before settling into a loose fighting stance. Looking at her opponent she blinked a couple of times, then shrugged.

"Look. I don't know who the hell ya are, or what the hell ya want with me now, but if it's a fight ya want, it's a fight yer gonna get!" 

By this time, Mercury had regained her feet, and some of her scattered wits. She realized closing in on the redhead would equal pain for her, so she refrained from doing so. A quick scan showed power levels up around those of Usagi's second or third readings. Nothing like what she was at now, but powerful by itself nonetheless. 

"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!"

"Whatcha gonna do? Sing me ta sleep?!"

**********

Minutes later, Ranma-chan was watching the blue skirted soldier of love and justice with new found respect, and no little amount of curiosity, in her eyes. She had just barely dodged that first attack. Her arm still stung from where she hadn't quite dodged well enough. Now, if only she could get the girl to use it a couple of more times. 

As the pair circled each other, Mercury was thinking franticly of ways to hold out till the others could get there. She had never faced such a fast opponent before! She was beginning to get worried.

"Ya couldn't hit the broad side of a barn!!"

"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!"

"Yattai!"

The blast impacted full force into a smiling Ranma-chan's chest, hurling her backwards to crash into, and through, several trees. For a moment, Mercury almost believed that she had won. Then an eerie chuckling floated through the grove from where Ranma-chan had landed. 

Mercury stared in disbelief and abject shock as an uninjured Ranma-chan pulled herself out of the crater she had formed and grinned mischievously at her. 

"So **that's** how you do it…"

Mercury, tired both physically and magically, panicked.

"Mercury Sorairono Ekusutashii!!"

The Azure Ecstasy, basically a super-powered Rhapsody, fueled with all of her strength behind it flew towards the unmoving Ranma-chan, who merely held up her hands.

"Saotome Ryü Sentaku, Naminooyu!"

The cascade of boiling ki washed over the blast of ice and the two cancelled each other out, knocking the two casters back. Mercury looked at Ranma-chan with an overwhelming sense of horror and dread filling her. She had lost, miserably, both to her stupid pride and ignorance. She laid back on the ground in surrender and stared at the sky.

**********

Ranma-chan stood in confusion. Her pride at learning a new move was completely cancelled out for once by the state of confusion her opponent's actions had landed her in. In her entire life no one had ever just… given up! She didn't know what to think of this new development in the situation. So, she just stood there dumb-founded and pondered the situation. At least, that's what she did if you call standing stock still with your jaw dangling around your kneecaps pondering.

The tableau had effectively frozen in place, making it look disturbingly like Mercury was about to be either raped by a leering Ranma-chan, or that she was submitting to her, with her fuku torn from ice. Not very good either way.

**********

Unfortunately, this was the scene that Sailors Moon, Jupiter, and Venus walked in on. Then matters were made even worse as they immediately were sucked into the "Ranma-dilemma". They jumped to the wrong conclusion. 

"Mercury! How COULD you?!" wailed the blonde-headed princess of the moon. 

It was just the thing needed to shatter the scene. Mercury snapped around.

"Moon! Thank the Heavens! Help!"

Which, of course, caused them to jump to the other wrong conclusion.

"PERVERT!!!"

Ranma-chan reacted in the traditional manner to hearing people yelling pervert when Happosai wasn't around. Which, didn't help. Jupiter screaming out an attack phrase did though.

"Supreme Thunder!" 

"Moko Takabushi!"

The searing ball of super-heated plasma impacted violently with the scarlet missile of super-confident ki. Needless to say, neither one went where they were intended. The plasma charge smashed nastily through several trees, while the ki sphere handily disbursed, giving everyone in the grove a rather nasty feeling blast, but not debilitating enough to knock out anyone but Mercury. 

"Venus Love Me Chain!"

The name of the attack was enough to seriously worry Ranma-chan at first, but the rather intriguing links flying past her face as she hopped and weaved about trying to dodge slowly knocked that out of her system. She began moving slower, a strange smile on her face as she started flipping deliberately around the chain. 

"Would you just hold still and let me hit you?!" Venus screamed at the rapidly moving Ranma-chan.

Ranma-chan altered her dodging just enough so that she could throw Venus a confused look.

"Now, why would I want to do something so utterly stupid as to stand still and let you beat on me with a whip made of chain?" 

"You know, she's got a point, Venus." Jupiter commented, nursing a burnt hand and watching the goings-on with a distracted sort of interest.

"Hey, Goldie! Mind if I borrow this for a couple of days? Thanks!" Ranma-chan piped up suddenly, snatching the chain out of mid-air and hiding it somewhere.

"Hey! Waitasec!" 

**********

Moon had had enough. First this show-off had tried to … to… she didn't even want to **think** about it… to Mercury, then she did something that **hurt** for crying out loud, and now she was stealing her fellow Senshi, not to mention good friend, Venus' Love Me Chain?! This was way too much.

She snatched up a branch that had landed near her, and scared the hell out of her, when Jupiter's Supreme Thunder had blown up the trees. Spinning around, she blasted it at Ranma-chan.

"Moon Frisbee!"

Unfortunately for her, her excellent attack with its perfect form was met only by trees. Ranma-chan had already vanished from the grove.

**********

Ranma, after a quick stop at a coffee shop for a glass of hot water, veritably flew home from the park. When he finally reached the gates, he didn't even bother opening them. With a quick leap, rounded off with a tight, mid-air somersault, he was over and leaning against the wall. It was happening again. The craziness of his life had followed him. He knew that he should have expected it, but it usually took longer than this.

He would have spent a few moments longer pondering his situation, but just then Nodoka stepped from the house.

__


	6. Nodoka’s Lessons

Chapter 6 __

Chapter 3: Nodoka's Lessons

"Son?" 

Ranma looked up nervously as his mother advanced towards him from the shadows of their house.

"H-hai, Okaa-san?"

"Will you come with me?"

"Um, hai, Okaa-san." Ranma's reply was tinged more curiosity then anything else, but he still wondered if she was still upset about the incident that morning.

**********

Nodoka led her son deep into the nadir of the residence. Down a flight of stairs to the cellar. Back past the shelves of stored goods. Through a door locked with a key hung around Nodoka's neck and hidden behind a stack of false boxes that moved aside with a simple push. Ranma was becoming steadily more nervous as they descended further into the bowels of the ancient building. Down yet another flight of stairs to a extensive cavern system. 

Nodoka paused for a second to allow her son time to adjust to the new environment before forging on. Ranma just gaped at the natural pillars and flows that lay before him. 

Finally, after several minutes, he noticed that Nodoka was leaving him behind and ran to catch up.

"Where are we going, Okaa-san?" He asked, falling back into a slightly more regular stride after catching up with her.

"Have patience, my son. You will know our destination soon."

********** 

Ultimately, the pair did arrive at their destination. A heavy oaken door filled the portal before them, blocking them from further passage. A great number of carvings decorated the door. Dancing sprites to fanciful birds of fire gamboled about the ancient door. Personally, Ranma thought that the birds were supposed to be representations of Phoenix, but his recent experience at Phoenix Mountain rather quickly disabused him of that idea. Nodoka stood before the door and looked at him expectantly. Ranma alternated between staring at her and at the door.

That was the tableau that the pair presented for no short period of time. Presently, however, Ranma got impatient.

"Well?!"

"Well what, my son?"

"Well are you gonna open that door or something?"

"No."

"Why not?!"

"That is your duty, my son."

"Why?!"

"Marcus Aurelius Antonius, Emperor of Rome, stated once in his _Mediations_ that 'A man's worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions'. What is your worth, my son? Do you not aspire to enter this portal?"

"Huh?"

"Do you wish to go in, or not?" Nodoka sighed.

"Why didn't you say so?! Yes I wanna go in!" Ranma was getting frustrated, so he marched up to the door and stared at it.

"There's no handle."

"I never said there would be one."

"Then how am I supposed to open it?!"

"To quote Colonel General Heinz Guderian, 'When the situation is obscure, attack.'"

"Uh.."

"You are a martial artist, are you not?"

"Of course I am! I'm the best there is!"

"When you are faced with a brick wall and you must get to the other side, how do you do that?"

"I either jump over it, go around it, or go through it!"

"Apply that situation here."

Ranma turned back to the door and began staring at it again. Finally he spoke, more of a mumble really, but words nonetheless. "Well, it's stuck in the wall so I can't go over it. There's no way around I can see that doesn't involved breaking walls. Well, I guess I should just go through it then."

Taking a step back and preparing himself, Ranma took a deep breath, exhaled, then charged straight at the door in a rush that would make any linebacker's coach proud. He rammed shoulder-first into the door.

There wasn't any explosion, or crashing sounds of destruction. In fact, what occurred was the almost total absence of sound. The door vanished as soon as Ranma's shoulder touched it and, as he was expecting resistance, his momentum carried him on through the now open portal. He crashed headlong into a long table, slid full-length down its polished surface, and landed head-first and upside-down in the large throne-like chair at the other end. 

Nodoka walked in moments later shaking her head ruefully.

"It was not necessary to charge the door, Ranma. A simple touch would do."

Ranma groaned from his awkward position, but didn't make much of an attempt to extract himself. "Why couldn't you just tell me that?"

"I actually expected you to attempt to strike the door with your fist, not ram through it."

Finally, Ranma's hands reached up and grasped the arms of the chair. He lifted himself up in a rather beautiful arm-lift into a perfect handstand, used his arms to propel himself into the air, flipped over the back of the chair, allowing his hands to push off the tall back, and landed neatly on the ground behind it. 

"Since you seem to like quotes so much, I'll use one a pop's favorites. 'One must crate an ear-resistible batterin' ram.'"

"That's 'One must create an irresistible battering ram', my son. It is a quote from Mikhail N. Tukhachevskiy's _Deep Battle_."

"Hey, how come ya know so much, huh?"

"I read." Nodoka replied, gesturing at the many books and scrolls around her, as it appeared that they were in a rather nice looking library, "I paid attention in school, which is something that I understand that you are lacking in. I fully intend on correcting that rather misfortunate fault in you, my son."

"Fault?!"

"It is the cause of your father, my son. I am certain that you knew not of it."

Ranma quickly interested himself in the many books around them in order to hide his rather relieved exhaust. 

"Who wrote all these books, Okaa-san?" Ranma asked, pulling down a rather heavy one with some kind of weapon engraved on the leather spine.

"Many, many people. Some of them were great warriors. That book in your hand there is _The Encyclopedia of Amazons_ written by an American by the name of Jessica Amanda Salmonson."

"Amazons? Ya think it talks about Shampoo or Cologne in here?" Ranma asked, flipping through the pages.

"I rather doubt it. That book is like a who's who of famous women warriors since the dawn of time. Enju and Itagaki are in there. As is Hida, Ike Gozen, Jingo Kogo, and Kane-jo or Okane as she was sometimes known."

"Okane, huh? Kinda like Akane. What'd she do?"

"Okane was a peasant from the Omi province. She was renown as a strong woman. It is said that one day, while carrying her laundry, she saw that a mighty stallion had gone wild. No one could capture it without becoming harmed. Okane, while still carrying her laundry, merely stepped upon its trailing reins as it ran past her. The stallion screamed and tried to kick her, but it couldn't move as she held it still."

Ranma just kind of stared dumbfounded. 

__

End Part Two

Author's Notes: I thought I'd throw in some things here. One, there was orginally more planned for chapter 3, but I decided at the last minute to end it like I did. And if you're wondering, yes, the quotes are really from who I claim there from. And yes, the Encyclopedia of Amazons really does exist. Also if you're wondering, those names are from real (mostly at least) people. Enju was a swordswoman-avenger, daughter of Numada Shoji. She was fictionalized in the kabuki play _Ume no Hana Aioi Hachinoki_ of the mid-1700s. Itagaki was said to have led a charge of 3000 warriors of the Taira clan against 10000 Heike in 1199 A.D. "She rode her warhorse expertly, guiding it skillfully with her knees, and at the same time wielding her razor-sharp naginata with amazing speed." She had resolved to die boldly and was respected even by her enemies for her courageous action and skill. Hida was a woman samurai best remembered for saving the Minamoto banner in the thick of battle, as recorded in _Heike Monogatori_. Ike Gozen was a 12th century martial nun of Japan, of the Zen sect that appealed to many samurai, and a Fujiwara clanswoman. She was skilled with naginata and saved Yoritomo's life on a battlefield early in his career. And finally, Jingo Kogo was a martial empress of Japan, skilled with sword, bow, and naginata. She conquered Korea in 201 A.D.. She is also called Okinaga Tarashi. She brought back many things from her journeys, including Japan's first written language. She is considered the Mother of War. 

Yes, the story of Okane is as I wrote it. Yes, it's real. And I thought it was neat, so I threw it in. Okane the strong woman managing to conquer the Wild Stallion whom no one else could win. It was a nifty parallel I thought. 

__


	7. Life As We Know It

Chapter 7 __

Part Three: Surviving In A Modern World

Chapter One: Life As We Know It

It had been several days since Ranma had learned the secret of opening the library's door. Every day, Nodoka and Ranma had journeyed to the depths to venture into its musty gloom and once again ponder the words of the ancient masters. This day would normally be like no other, with Ranma and Nodoka pouring over the crumbling old tomes, except for one thing. A little thing really, but it's the little things that make all the difference, isn't it?

**********

"There is no WAY you are gonna get me to do THAT!"

Ranma was in fine form. Nodoka was growing ever more quickly frustrated with his stubborn refusal to performing her wishes in this one area. 

"Ranma! You must learn –"

"I said NO! There is no way!"

"Ranma..." Nodoka growled, letting the covering on the ancestral katana slip.

"NO! I ain't doin' it!" Ranma roared, ignoring the katana and everything else in his bull-headed attempt to get out of this of all tasks.

"And what, exactly, is wrong with learning how to behave like a lady?!" 

"I'M A GUY!" 

"Well, I'm sure we can all see THAT fact." 

That was unexpected. 

Both Ranma and Nodoka dropped their argument in order to turn to the source of the new voice. 

In the entrance to the library stood a young woman, perhaps a bit younger than Ranma, perhaps not, with long glossy, raven black hair which hug past her hips. It was Rei, dressed in a pair of purple denim shorts and a yellow, green and purple striped t-shirt under a yellow windbreaker. Purple socks and yellow tennis shoes adorned her feet. The entire ensemble was completed with a yellow baseball cap with a purple brim pulled on backwards over her long hair. She smirked at her cousin has he stared in shock.

"What? Didn't think I knew how to get down here? Hey, I'm a Hino, aren't I? What'd you expect?!"

"R-r-rei-san! What are you doing here?" Ranma stuttered.

"Well, I felt like going and catching a movie over at the theatre in the mall, and I was wondering if you'd like to come?"

"What about the other girls?" Ranma wondered.

"Usagi's off with Mamoru, that's her boyfriend, you'll meet him eventually. Minako is with Makoto, I think they're cooking or something. And finally, Ami is studying. So, since no one else is available, and I don't feel like going alone, I came over to invite you. What, is there something wrong with me that you don't want to be seen in public with me?!" Rei demanded, beginning to get angry.

"Wrong?! N-n-no! What could possibly be wrong with you?! I mean, you're pretty a-an-and nice a-an-and..."

"Ranma... why don't you just answer her question." It was a direct order, and Ranma knew better than to disobey.

"Uh... oh... sure, Rei-san. I'll go with you."

"Great, Ranma-san! Come on!"

With that, Rei latched onto Ranma's arm and drug him out of the building.

**********

Once out of the house and on their way down the street, Rei finally voiced the question that had been plaguing her.

"What are you so nervous about, Ranma?!"

"Nervous?! ME? I'm not nervous!" Ranma declared, while scanning the street and roof tops and everything else nearby him except for his cousin.

"You are too. So, out with it! What's up?"

"Uh... well..." Ranma tugged at his pigtail and stared up at the sky a lot before answering. "You see, A-a-akane... my fiancée... she's kinda.. ya know... jealous... and stuff.... and I kinda don't wanna... make her mad or nothin..." 

"Jealous? Of me?! Ranma-san! We're COUSINS! That's ... that's wrong! That's just WRONG!"

Ranma just shrugged and kept walking. After a bit, Rei did too.

**********

"So, here we are, Ranma-san. What would you like to see?" Rei asked, gesturing towards the marquee. 

"I dunno. I don't go to movies much. What would you recommend, Rei-san?"

"Well, let's see... you're a martial artist, and a guy, so that's out... so that... and that... Hey, have you ever heard of Jackie Chan?"

"Jackie Chan? He's from Taiwan isn't he?"

"Yeah. He does a lot of martial arts movies. He's real funny. You might like him. I know a lot of guys do..."

Ranma shrugged. "Okay, you're the expert on movies here. Why don't we see that?"

"Ok... oh! They've re-released one of his older ones!" With a smile, Rei drug a bemused Ranma to the ticket counter. "Two for Drunken Master, please! Thank you!" 

**********

Inside, Ranma pops for the popcorn and soda, since Rei paid for the tickets and all. It was only fair after all. 

They found their seats rather quickly and waited patiently in relative silence as the opening credits began rolling. 

**********

Periodically through out the film, Rei stole glances at the delighted Ranma sitting next to her. The young man was handsome, she had to admit. But there was something about him. Something... strange. She just couldn't put her finger on quite what it was, but she had a peculiar feeling of déjà vu. It was as if they had done this before, or at least something similar... she just had this overwhelming feeling that she knew him from somewhere else.

**********

Despite the fact that the Jackie Chan fellow on the screen was quite amusing, not to mention informative, (Ranma was already plotting on how he could use some of those moves in his next battle) Ranma couldn't help glancing around for Akane. Every second that passed he waited for the fated Hammer of Doom to strike. Every second it didn't he just got tenser and tenser. He began looking around the theatre whenever he thought that Rei wasn't looking, which wasn't often he noticed. 

**********

Maybe it was the increased nervousness between the pair, maybe not. Whatever it was, they both noticed the fact that a youma was approaching and fast. Unfortunately, or maybe not, Ranma noticed it first. 

Scooping Rei up into his arms, he made a standing leap from their seats to the door of a nearby storage closet. Pushing her inside he muttered hurriedly, "Stay here. There's something bad coming. I don't know what it is, but you'll be safer in here. I'll handle it."

Rei wouldn't have any of that. "That's a Youma, Ranma! You'll be killed!"

"Just stay put!" Ranma almost snarled, then closed the door and prepared for battle.

**********

The Youma appeared moments later. It was big, it was greenish purple and it was scaly. It was also really ugly and had lots of teeth, but that was pretty much a given with Youma. Oh, it also had bad breath. It's name was George and it was actually a very nice Youma. It just happened to have the rather nasty taste for eating human souls. Which probably explained the bad breath. 

Ranma's soul was looking fairly tasty at the moment, so George decided that he would chew on that human first. 

Ranma decided otherwise.

"Hey, Barney! Yeah, you! That's right! I'm talking to you, you sick lil' FREAK!"

Now, as mentioned earlier, George wasn't really a bad Youma, he was actually quite nice. But, you see, among Youma there is an unspoken law. And that is The Law of the Unmentioned. That's right The Law of the Unmentioned. And the Unmentioned happens to be a renegade Youma that sings off-key about love and happiness and tends to cause cavities through sugar overload. That's right, Barney the Purple Dinosaur. So, normally, George would have brushed off what Ranma had said, in fact the Freak comment was quite a compliment, but since he had dared to infer that George was anything like the Unmentioned...

George opened his gigantic maw and roared in reply. 

Ranma just smirked and tossed a small Moko Takabushi at the roaring Youma.

George got really pissed off at that, and charged blindly at Ranma. 

Ranma leapt out of the way and kicked George in the tail on the way back down behind him. 

The battle was on.

__

End Chapter One 


	8. Youma, Youma Everywhere

Chapter 8 __

Chapter Two: Youma, Youma Everywhere

Suddenly, across the theatre, an explosion disturbed the battle. 

"Halt evil-doer! For interrupting a peaceful afternoon and a Jackie Chan classic I shall punish you! I am Sailor Mars, and I shall punish you in high heels!" came a mysterious voice from the dust and debris across the room.

"Burning Mandela!" Mars screamed, launching multiple rings of flaming destruction at George. 

Some of the rings hit George, others hit the walls, about two actually hit Ranma, who had gotten into the way. Spinning around to find out who had hit him with the hot stuff, he spotted the long-legged girl in red high heels, short skirt and white bodice. He spotted the ribbons. He spotted the collar and the tiara. He freaked.

"I didn't do it! I didn't do nothin'! It ain't my fault! HE AIN'T WITH ME!!" Ranma screamed, trying desperately to avoid another fight with some short skirted girl. 

"Huh?" Mars replied intelligently, totally confused and feeling quite out of the loop.

George took that momentary lapse in concentration to attack. He lashed out with his tail and knocked to two flying. Spinning back around, he spat some kind of acid at them. It hissed as it struck their clothing and burnt its way through. 

Ranma and Mars climbed back to their feet and glared at George. Taking up their stances back to back they began their attack.

"Moko..." Ranma snarled, the ball of confidence energy building in his hands.

"Burning...." Mars chanted, gathering the fiery rings to her.

"TAKABUSHI!"

"MANDELA!"

They released their attacks simultaneously. The Moko Takabushi intertwined and otherwise meshed with the fiery rings as they blasted across to where George stood dumbfoundedly. 

The super-powered attack, fueled with each other's attacks, struck George and blasted him into ashes.

**********

Ranma and Mars stood there for a moment, trying to catch their breath. Finally, Ranma looked over and smirked at Mars. 

"That was pretty good... for a girl."

In the distance, he heard oncoming sirens, signifying the pending arrival of the authorities.

"Come on. Let's get out of here... wait! Rei-san! Where's Rei-san!" Ranma yelped, racing over to the debris that Mars had come out of and beginning to dig. 

Mars hurried over and grabbed his arm. "Come on, Ranma-san! Rei-san's fine! I saw her leave just as I was coming in! Come ON!"

Ranma looked up at Mars, and his eyes narrowed slightly, but he allowed himself to be hauled from the wreckage of the theatre nonetheless.

**********

A couple of miles away, the two finally stop, feeling free of any possible pursuit where they rested atop a church spire. 

"Where'd you learn to fight like that, Ranma-san?"

"I spent my entire life learning to fight. That was nothing. I could have handled him on my own, you know. I was just warming up."

"Oh yeah! Sure you could!" Mars' voice dripped with sarcasm. "Of course, a simple martial artist could easily defeat a creature that the legendary Sailor Senshi would have trouble with!"

"Sailor Senshi? Never heard of 'em. Besides, I ain't no 'simple martial artist'! I'm the best! I'm the best of the best!" Ranma growled, hitting himself in the chest repeatedly with his thumb. "I've faced down the Seven Lucky Martial Artists and won! I killed a GOD! I am the best!"

Mars just stared, "A god?! Yeah right! You could never even stand in the presence of a true god!"

Ranma's eyes narrowed again. "You ever hear of Phoenix Mountain in China?"

"Phoenix Mountain? Uh.. I heard it blew up a while back. Volcano eruption."

"That was not a volcanic mountain. Phoenix Mountain was blown apart during my battle with Saffron."

"Saffron?"

"The Phoenix. The King of Phoenix Mountain. Whatever. He was effectively immortal. Able to heal himself instantly from anything. I tore him to shreds because he tried to kill Akane."

Mars could only stare, gape jawed.

"I don't even know why I'm mentioning this to you. You couldn't even be bothered to tell me the truth about who you were."

"Huh?!"

"Couldn't even tell me, could you? Your own COUSIN! Why couldn't you tell me the truth, Rei-san?"

"H-h-how..."

"The aura never changes."

"Huh?"

"A good friend of mine once taught me to look at auras. Every person's aura is unique. Mine is a brilliant scarlet. Akane's is royal blue. Yours is a lot like mine, it's red, only it's a bit lighter and brighter. Like a neon colour. Exactly like Rei-san." 

"But you said that aura's are unique!"

"Yes I did. You are Rei-san. Rei-san is Mars. Give me a break, Rei. I figured you out. Give up already. The aura gave you away. Besides, I've never been introduced to Sailor Mars. I mean, come on! I ain't STUPID!"

"There's no way!"

"Rei! GIVE IT UP! You LOST!"

"But... now... now everyone'll know... we're all lost..."

"Lost? Everyone's lost just because I happen to know something? Come off it, Rei! I ain't gonna tell nobody! That's not my style! I don't gossip on people!"

"B-b-but..."

"Hey, look, I'll tell you my secret!"

"Your secret?!"

"Yeah. You see, while I was training... there was this place called Jusendo. It's name means cursed springs... Anyways, Pop took me there to train. At first it was easy. Just don't fall in the springs, right? Well, I kicked Pop a good one, and he fell inta one a the springs. What came out wasn't Pop... it was a giant friggin PANDA! Anyways, that's freaked me out, so I wasn't paying attention. The Panda whacked me a good one and I went flying. SPLASH! I landed inta one a the springs. When I came up, I wasn't fuzzy or nuthin so I thought I was ok, right? Wrong. Ya see, when I came up, I realized that I was... ya know, missin' something? The Guide, that was this little Chinese guy that went around gabbling at us about something or another in chinese, well, anyways, he came up and was babblin' something or another about a nannichaun or something, ya know? Well, turns out that I fell in the spring of drowned girl. Real tragic tale of girl that fell in spring and all. So whenever I get hit with a cold liquid I turn into a girl. A little red head with lots of... uh... talent..."

Mars was trying not to laugh, but she found herself actually believing his outrageous tale. It just seemed to fit in with everything else she had heard about him. 

He went on for sometime relating some of his adventures growing up. After awhile, Mars relaxed and let herself fall into a sort of trance. She glanced over at Ranma after a while, allowing herself to see him with her inner eye. 

What she saw shocked her. 

Instead of Ranma sitting there on the spire, she saw an older man, but still young, sitting in his place. This older man was dressed in intricate golden armour and wore a golden sword belted to his hip with golden belts. Everything about him was golden, except for his tan skin, wild black hair tied back in a braid, and deep blue eyes. On the front of his armour, there in the middle of his breastplate was a strange symbol that she didn't recognize at all. This man looked at her with a strange sort of affection that almost made tears come to her eyes.

She was beginning to understand that earlier touch of déjà vu now, thanks to a touch of second sight.

**********

A few minutes after that, Mars made her excuses and leapt away into the darkening night. She had to talk to someone. Who knew? Maybe Luna or Artemis could help.

**********

Luna and Artemis sat quietly and listened as Rei related her rather odd tale to them as best she could.

For a time afterwards, they talked quietly between themselves, then, finally, they came back over to Rei to offer what they knew. 

**********

"We've been thinking about what you said, Rei. And quite frankly, there's only one possible answer to this." Luna began.

"Really! We think that this Ranma fellow could quite possibly be the reincarnation of the Phoenix Prince! He was quite a helpful ally to have around!" Artemis broke in.

"Artemis! Anyways, Rei, the Phoenix Prince was your elder brother Shima. He had been groomed from birth to take over the War Throne from his father, but then the Phoenix came and chose him to be his Champion Among Mortals. Then he couldn't be the War Throne's Heir-Apparent. So that title was passed to you, his only true sibling."

"Ya know, I never though that Serenity-sama sent Shima along with everyone, Luna. That's why I never bothered to look for him."

"Well, I don't see why he couldn't have been sent forwards. He was the Phoenix's Champion after all. The Phoenix was certainly powerful enough to send one soul forward after all."

"That's great! So, what do we do now? Introduce you and let you perform a lunar mind meld or something?"

"No, Rei. Nothing quite so simple as that."

"What Luna's getting at, Rei, is that Shima was never a part of the Lunar Soul. Our mind meld wouldn't work. No, Shima, or rather Ranma, was, is, a part of the Phoenix. He is the Phoenix Prince, the Champion Among Mortals. Only fire and death can rebirth the Phoenix. Only fire can bring back the memories of the Phoenix Prince. Only death can complete the process."

"So you're saying..."

"That you must set Ranma ablaze with your Mystic Fires, Rei."

"What?! No! That'd kill him!"

"Rei! There's no choice! It's either that or let Chaos corrupt him! Would you rather lose him forever?!"

Rei can only sigh as she walks away disheartened from the discussion and consequent orders. 

__

End Chapter Two


	9. Fire Burning Brightly - Preperation

Chapter 9 __

Chapter Three: Fire Burning Brightly 

Section First: Preparation

The moonrise found a very perplexed Hino sitting in sezia before the Sacred Fire in the shrine. Many complex questions lay heavily on her mind. The enigma that was Ranma Saotome and the secret revealed to her by him. The riddle of her supposed elder brother from the Silver Millennium, Shima, the Champion Amongst Mortals for the Phoenix. Ranma's claim to have defeated the Phoenix in battle. Her brief flash of second sight. All very puzzling dilemmas for such a young and beautiful girl.

But what all of those bewildering problems boiled down to was one central obstacle. Luna and Artemis, the Advisors to the Queen themselves, had asked, no, _ordered_ Rei to use her control over the Mystic Fires to hurt... no, _kill_ her cousin, and possibly even the reincarnation of her elder brother! That above all is what hurt Rei more than anything. Not the possibility that Ranma could ever be swayed over to the path of Chaos, nor the thought that she may never be reunited with her brother, nor even the remotest chance that she would cause the Fires to devour her family member. No, what hurt Rei the most, as she sat there contemplating her possible fates, was the fact that the two creatures that all five girls depended on to provide support and to answer questions could possibly be so ... so _blood-thirsty_! 

Somewhere, deep inside herself, some small part of her was screaming about the injustice of it all. But the main part was saying that Luna and Artemis were right, and that the only way to get Shima back was through the Mystic Fires. But did she want Shima back? She barely even remembered her brother! And what was so wrong with Ranma that they had to destroy him? He was nice enough, for a guy. Besides, from what she could see of Ranma, he was happy. What right did she have to destroy someone like him? 

Simple. She was a Sailor Senshi. It was her duty to protect the Princess and neutralize any possible threats to her Princess' safety. And Ranma, as he was, was definitely a possible threat. Shima, on the other hand, was not. On the contrary, Shima was a powerful ally of the Senshi, according to the cats. 

Rei sighed and rubbed wearily at her forehead, knocking away some of the sweat that had built up there from the long exposure to the Sacred Fire. Trying to figure out what the right course was was giving her a major headache. Besides that, she was growing tired. She groaned and scrubbed at her face with her fists, trying to stay awake at least long enough to figure something out. 

She had never expected something like this to happen when she had first followed the orders of the strange, talking, black cat. A Sailor Senshi's life was supposed to be straight forward, right? Everything black and white. The bad guys tried to hurt people and the good guys, namely the Sailor Senshi, stopped them. Well, what happens when the good guys start hurting people? Rei didn't know.

Staring deep into the Sacred Fire, Rei never noticed drifting off to sleep there on the hard wooden floor.

**********

The young black haired maiden stretched and stood up from her place on the cool marble bench, idly noting as she did that she seemed a bit... smaller than she was used to being. For a moment, she gazed around and tried to figure out what she was doing in that particular part of the palace.

Then she remembered and a grin blossomed across her slightly chubby face. She leapt up and down and clapped her hands together joyfully. Today was the day! Her big brother was coming home for a visit today! Then she remembered that she was all of sixteen winters old and shouldn't be behaving in such a manner.

A soft chime rang through the hall, echoing lightly off of the garnet-veined white marble walls and columns. With a squeal of delight, the very prim and proper sixteen year old girl scampered off down the hall as fast as any tomboyish street mouse. 

Unfortunately, she wasn't really paying much attention to her surroundings. Which was the reason that she stopped so abruptly when the handsome sable-headed man had stepped out in front of her. The fact that this halt was caused by her ramming face-first into his gold plated chest and causing her to achieve a rather nasty bloody nose didn't seem to faze her much though. 

Conveniently, though, the man was paying attention. Moving with the quickness and grace of a lifetime's training in the Arts of War, he caught the falling damsel-in-distress in his strong arms. Smirking down at her through his wild bangs, his braid falling down over one aureate shoulder, he helped her back to her feet.

Her place on her feet didn't last long though, for as soon as he released her to stand under her own power, she threw herself at him and wrapped her arms around his waist in a wild bear hug.

"Oniisan! You're here!" She cried, completely ignoring the fact that she was dripping blood on her favorite dress.

"Yeah, seems like I am... did you know you were bleeding on your dress?" The older man replied, scooping her up in his arms and continuing on down the hallway. "We should go and take care of that, don't ya think? Can't have the prettiest princess on Mars dying on us now, can we?"

The 'prettiest princess on Mars' merely chuckled rather nasally through her now pinched nose and snuggled into her brother's chest. "I'm not gonna _die_ from a nose bleed, Shima-onii! I've gotten lots of nose bleeds in training!"

"Training?! For what, Reiki-imoto?"

**********

The flames flickered higher and higher as they leapt and danced about the man standing in the center of the marble throne room. Though everyone was staring at the strange golden man, he only had eyes for one person. The teenager sitting in the seat of the Heir to the Throne. 

A young girl, maybe seven or eight winters old, sat on the floor nearby and watched fearfully as the fiery man approached her brother, who did not even flinch as the being came ever closer. Soon the entity was standing maybe one pace away from the Throne of the Heir. The flames roared higher and higher, whipping and snapping at the raven-haired teen. Still, he did not flinch, or retreat. He simply sat there, secure in who he was. 

For a time the two stared at each other, one a being of fire and passions, the other seemingly a creature of ice and rationality. Finally, Shima let up on his cold aura and smirked at the spirit before him. The being smiled back in acknowledgement of one who was brave enough to challenge him.

"I am the Phoenix." The voice that emerged from the fiery man's throat sounded like that of a child, singing sweetly. "Every five hundred years, I die and am again reborn. This has continued for eons of your time. Always I have stayed away from your kind. Yet suddenly, I find my existence interrupted. One of your kind, on the sphere called Earth, a king by the name of Solomon sought to confine me within a vessel as he had done to my fellow spirits so that he could draw from my powers as he does from theirs. I alone am now free. As this assault was from your kind, I come to your kind for justice. I seek one to be my Champion Amongst Mortals. One of your kind who shall have the ability to draw from me in his time of need. My Champion need not be of Royal blood, but as my Champion, he shall be a true Prince. He shall be known as the Phoenix Prince."

Shima stood from his seat and stepped more fully into the Phoenix's flames. 

"I shall go."

"You? You are but a boy! There must still be much for you to learn, is there not? Surely there is some other more worthy here, on the Sphere of War?"

"Perhaps there is some other more worthy, but I'll take their place. Your flames are hot and burn very brightly. I'd not have any suffer when I could possibly take that risk in their stead. No, I shall go."

"This is your true wish, mortal? Realize that you can never go back once you have accepted. You can never return to what you are now. The Fires shall burn you and change you, until perhaps not even you yourself could recognize the result."

"That is not of matter, Phoenix. I cannot desert my people in their hour of need. I shall not. I shall go with you, and so, preserve them."

"Very well, mortal. Bid you your farewells, for in the morn, I shall take you away to become the Phoenix Prince."

**********

"Oniisan? I want you to meet my friends! Come on!" Reiki giggled as she drug her rather famous, gold, and tolerant elder brother down the hall. 

After a time, she pulled him into a room marked with a rather out-of-place looking steel door. Inside the reason became apparent. 

Three girls blasted away at various targets while another two waited off to the side. Normally, this wouldn't have worried the valiant warrior being escorted by Reiki, but at the moment they stepped through the steel portal, one of the more active targets floated right into their faces. This, of course, drew the fire of the three girls fighting the targets.

Shima stared in shock as a bolt of lightning, a blast of hot water and some kind of laser beam came blasting towards him and his little sister, who was currently busy screaming.

"Fushichoo Hono'o Hogo Soochi!" Shima roared suddenly, casting his hands up before him. 

Immediately a strange sort of cold flames leapt into being between the on rushing attacks and his hands. As soon as the attacks struck the barrier, they vanished as did the barrier. Shima let his hands down and exhaled while glaring at the girls. 

Two, a leggy blonde and a tall brunette, actually looked rather sheepish at not paying attention at where they were throwing their attacks. The other however...

The midnight blue headed girl stormed over to Shima and latched on to his collar, hauling his face down to hers. Glaring into his eyes, she began her tirade. "Exactly what the hell possessed a stupid BOY like YOU to walk into our DOJO while we are TRAINING?!" 

"um..uh... reiki made me..." was the only even mildly intelligent things that emerged from the stricken man's lips.

"You DARE blame YOUR STUPIDITY on MY FRIEND?!" 

"Um... Akai? I... um... kinda did make him come..." Reiki offered from behind her brother. 

Akai's glare turned into shock. "Why'd you, of all people, bring a stupid BOY in here?"

"Cause I wanted him to meet you all..."

"MEET US?!"

"He's my brother... Shima, the Phoenix Prince."

"Akai. Please, calm down. I'm most certain that Reiki meant no ill bringing her dear brother in here in order to meet us." This was a new voice. 

Shima's eyes flicked sideways to appraise this new arrival. She was the same age as the other girls appeared to be and bore an uncanny resemblance to the firebrand currently clamped to his collar.

"Well, Reiki? Are you gonna introduce us to your cute brother?!" Another new voice. This time it was a blonde with a hair style that just screamed Lunar Royalty.

"Oh, of course I am! Shima-onii, I'd like you to meet Minanoai," she gestured towards the rather bashful looking blonde, "from Venus."

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Minanoai-chan." Shima stated straightening up to his full height, and dragging Akai off the ground with a squawk as she refused to release his collar.

"Nice to meet you, Shima-sama." She seemed shy... '_probably because of the embarrassment of our meeting'_, Shima decided.

"Beside her is Kina from Jupiter." This time the gesture brought his attention to the rather sad looking brunette.

__

'That simply will not do.' Shima thought "Kina-chan. It is always an honor to meet such pretty young lady, such as yourself. Surely things are not as terrible as you seem to think. Cheer up! And you shall brighten the world!" 

"T-thank you, Shima-sama." Kina replied, then quickly looked down again. Then and there, Shima decided to help out the younger girl.

"Shima-onii? This is Amilia, she's from Mercury." The gesture took in the peaceful looking girl besides the Lunar Royal blonde.

"A pleasure, Amilia-chan."

"Likewise, Shima-sama."

"Reiki, before you go on, care to introduce me to this little firebrand so that I can get her to release me?" Shima interrupted, pointing down at the spitfire dangling from his lapels still.

"Gomen, Oniisan. That's Amilia's twin sister, Akai. Gomen."

"That's alright, Reiki-imoto. Akai-chan, I'm very honored to make your most interesting acquaintance but could you kindly let go now?" Akai coloured slightly red, but she let go, and proceeded to fall towards the ground with a yelp. Shima reacted like a gentleman and caught her in his muscular arms well before she smacked into the ground. "Come now, Akai-chan! Wouldn't you feel ever so much safer standing rather than falling?"

Akai fumed, but allowed herself to be set on the ground without further argument.

"Finally, Shima-onii, I'd like you to meet her Royal Highness, the Princess of the Moon, Serenity-sama!" At last, Reiki bowed towards the Lunar Royal blonde.

"Serenity-hime! It is an honor most profound to be graced with your illustrious presence!" Shima replied, dropping his most courtly and graceful bow to the Heir to the Lunar Throne.

"Oh, stop it, Shima-san! It is an honor to be allowed to meet the Phoenix Prince himself! I hear you've been to Earth lately?"

**********

"Alright, Imoto. Let your consciousness flow into the Sacred Fire here." 

Reiki sat and stared at the fire. Then she stared some more. Finally, she gave up.

"I can't, Oniisan! I just can't!"

"You can, Reiki-imoto. I believe in you. All you have to do is relax. Trust the Flames. They will guide you as you learn to walk through the Fire. In time, you will learn to guide them, as is your rightful place as the Senshi of Fire." Shima smirked at his rather frustrated little sister who was glaring at the Sacred Fire he had taught her to build.

Reiki just growled.

Shima sighed slightly and shook his head. 

"Listen. You want to be able to talk to me when I'm away, don't you?" He asked.

Reiki frowned in puzzlement, but nodded her agreement with the idea. 

"Okay. Well, the only way that you are going to be able to do that is by sending your thoughts through the Sacred Fire. That way, no matter where I am, I can hear you." 

Reiki nodded again, then sat down in sezia before the Sacred Fire. She took a deep breath, let it out, then took in another and closed her eyes. By the time she let out the second breath, she was deep into a trance state. 

She reached out gently with a tendril of thought towards the Fire. In return, the Fire reached out and caressed her thought with a gentle warmth. Shima had been right! The Fire would be her guide!

She smiled in the trance, and Shima just shook his head with a grin. He knew she could do it, he just had to convince her that she could.

**********

His terrible Firesword rested firmly in Shima's grip as he sat astride the restless charger. Behind him, clinging to his waist, was a young peasant girl who was either blessed or cursed with a shocking mass of bright scarlet hair and was wearing his spare shirt. He had found her earlier as he rode with Endymion and his soldiers towards the bandit lair. The other's had preferred to leave her, but he, for some unknown reason, hadn't. So, he had swung her up behind him and charged off into battle. 

They had been fighting for some time before the others began to notice how the Phoenix Prince was battling with the bandits.

"Oji-sama! To your left!" the red-headed maiden might shout.

"Hai!" Would come Shima's rejoinder as he swung his Firesword in a great arc and cleaved the bandit head from its shoulders. 

Before too long, the bandits had either surrendered, fled, or died on the battlefield. However, Shima and co apparently did not think that the battle was over, for they raced after the fleeing bandits.

"Hurry, Oji-sama! Hurry! He'll get away!" The red-head would shriek, gesturing wildly towards the departing bandits.

Shima spurred his charger to its fastest gallop as he raced after the bandits, finally overtaking and passing many of them. 

One bandit in particular tried to get away by running off at a tangent. 

Shima felt something tug at his waist, then, as he turned to see what it was, he spotted the red-head leaping from the back of his charger with his dagger in hand. She landed hard upon the fleeing bandit and struck once with the dagger, plunging it deep into his heart. As the bandit fell dead, she stood triumphant, bloody dagger in hand over his body. 

Shima reined in the charger and cantered back over. With a smirk, he reached down and hauled up the girl. When she tried to return his dagger, he just shook his head.

"No, you keep it. You've earned the right to wield that weapon, wild child."

'Ranko' grinned back at him and stuck the dagger through the piece of rope that served her for a belt.

Elsewhere, Reiki shook her head to clear it from the gore of the battle.

**********

"Hurry, girls! Hurry!" Shima roared from the point, his Firesword cleaving the life from the Youma surrounding him as he cleared a path for the five girls behind him. 

At his side, Akai the firebrand sent gout after gout of hot water blasting into the attacking creatures. To his other side, Kina doomed the beasts to death with her electrifying attacks, willing to die to help her 'old boyfriend', as she jokingly called Shima. Next to Kina, Reiki incinerated fiends to the left and right. Over by Akai, Minanoai was shooting down daemons overhead with the accuracy of a trained sniper. In the center of their informal arrowhead formation, Amilia used her computer to locate weak points and used her powers to provide defensive shielding.

It would have been a great battle. One for the history books. Only one problem. The person that they were fighting so hard to get to was already dead with her beloved. It was over before it had even really began. 

One by one they fell, and were sent forward by Queen Serenity. First, Kina fell, impaled upon a beast's claw, she took out more than a hundred more with the explosive release of all of her powers at once. Next Minanoai. A lucky hit knocked her off balance and she went down to be trampled underfoot, but not before letting off the most powerful Shower that anyone had seen. It was Amilia that was laid low next. A flying daemon came down and picked her off the ground. Minutes later, its and others' frozen carcasses came thudding down. 

For a while, it looked as though they were going to win. Akai and Reiki and Shima. All three fighting for each other. The Youma were thinning faster and faster, until there were almost no more. 

It was one of the last that got Akai. It came up behind her and raked its claws down her back. She never even had a chance to wreak her vengeance. Shima did that for her. With a wild, unforgiving roar, he leapt into the fray, Reiki at his side. His Firesword left huge swaths of destruction in his path, his fists and feet, glowing with power, did no less. Finally, it seemed all were gone.

Shima made his way slowly back over to Akai's still form. Unlike the other's she had not vanished. Shima and Reiki both knew why. It was because only one could be sent from each royal family. Shima fell to his knees and gathered Akai's cooling body to him as tears ran down his face. Reiki couldn't help but cry herself, as she watched her manly elder brother in tears over the loss of his beloved. 

"Phoenix! I call!" Shima screamed, his voice thin. "I have need of your powers! Send Akai and I into the future! Find us a place where we can be together and send us there!" 

The flames were blinding. They leapt up and consumed Shima and Akai, taking them away from Reiki and the moon forever.

The last thing Reiki remembered after that was looking down to see the long claw of a not-quite-dead Youma piercing her chest. She fell to the ground as her life bled away. 

"This really sucks." She whispered as she died.

**********

Rei woke up from her slumber to the rays of the sun hitting her face. She sat up and yawned. Stretching, she popped her back and rotated her neck until she didn't feel quite so stiff. Finally she stood.

"That was weird... I mean really weird..."

At length, she remembers what she had been pondering the night before. 

"No! I can't do it! I can't destroy Ranma! I don't care what the cats say! B-but... the only way to remind Ranma of what he was..."

**********

Meanwhile, the moonrise had lit the face of a curious young man creeping about the district after dark. 

It was Saotome Ranma, and he had an idea. 

Since his cousin, Hino Rei, turned out to be Sailor Mars, he figured that the girls he had seen her hanging out with could be the idiots that had attacked him the other day. 

A few checks had proved him correct so far. 

The brain, Mizuno Ami, shared the aura he had seen around the blue-girl.

The ditzy blonde, Aino Minako, not only looked like Goldie, but she wasn't anywhere near her house either.

His guide, Kino Makoto, shared the aura of the green-girl.

All that was left was pig-tail girl, Tsukino Usagi. 

He crept across the roof of the Tsukino residence and peeked into windows until he finally found Usagi's. Normally, he would have just hung there and studied her until he figured out her aura. Except for one thing. There was a cat. And not just any cat. A BLACK cat. And it was sitting on the window sill. Right. In. Front. Of. Him.

Ranma never did find out if Usagi was blue-and-red-girl.

**********

__

End Section First


	10. Fire Burning Brightly - Pyre

Chapter 10 __

Chapter Three: Fire Burning Brightly

Section Second: Pyre

It had taken several hours of constant deliberation, but at long last Rei came to her hard earned decision. 

It had to be done. No matter how much she might dislike the idea, or how much it pained her to do it, she had to. Ranma had to be reunited with the Mystic Fires. It was not merely an idle decision on her part, no. Far from it. This was life and death. For could the reincarnation of the Phoenix's Champion Among Mortals truly survive without the Heat of the Fires? Surely, he would eventually die without the Sacred Heat? Right? In fact, it was amazing that he had managed to survive for this long. 

It had been a difficult decision to arrive at, certainly, but Rei couldn't see how to help Ranma learn the truth about his past paths in any other way. It had to be done. There truly was no other way. The Mystic Fires would sear Ranma, and change him. Just as they had done to her dear brother Shima so many years ago. 

There was just one thing. 

The cats, as Rei now thought of the two Advisors with disgust, were no part of it. Those blood-thirsty little... DEAMONS... 

**********

Ranma, on the other hand, had stolen away to a wooded area on the farthest outskirts of Tokyo. 

He had explained it to Nodoka as needing to train. Which was what he was doing. But the reason he gave wasn't the real reason. He had told Nodoka that he had been challenged, and that he needed to prepare for the battle. Which wasn't entirely false. But the true reason was that he wished to work on a couple of possible new techniques which would almost invariably cause a great deal of property damage in the creation. 

Which was the rationale for his tiny campsite on this forested slope. It wasn't a bad campsite. Ranma was actually quite good at the art of creating his traveling homestead. The canvas pup tent was set up off to the side between two trees. His tiny fire glowed near the front entrance of the tent, close enough to allow it to heat the tent, yet far enough away to avoid embers striking the oiled canvas. No smoke drifted upwards to cloud the clear night sky from the well built little flame. His pack, and the paltry amount of food contained within, hung high in a nearby tree to avoid invaders. 

Ranma himself, however, crouched on the far side of the campsite, well away from the comforting heat and light of the miniature pyre. In his hands he clasped a golden chain, which glimmered slightly, even in the pitch blackness of the night. He studied it with every ounce of concentration he possessed, yet he could not fathom its mysteries. He exerted all the strength that he could summon upon it, yet he could not cause it to break. No matter what he tried, it evoked no change in the aureate links. Except for one thing. Ki. That strange force which held the spark of life. It had been his last resort.

When he channeled ki through his hands and into the chain, there was a remarkable reaction. The glow grew brighter. The links seemed... stronger perhaps. If that was even possible. For someone like Nabiki, the reaction would have been a mystery to ponder perhaps, in her spare time. For Ranma... it was... intriguing. 

That this amazing piece, which had been wrought by either some super advanced science or magic, would have such a reaction to something with which he fought on an almost daily basis it seemed, was quite fascinating to the martial artist. He wondered, as he fiddled with the heart-shaped links, what else could be done with his new-found knowledge.

He toyed with the idea of channeling other forms of ki through the chain for some time before actually attempting it. The various focused forms of ki could have interesting effects, so, with that reasoning, he began his... tests. 

The first experiment used the form of focused ki that he was most familiar with. Confidence and pride. He summoned forth his enormous ego and channeled a tightly focused Moko Takabushi into the chain. 

The result was, in a word, spectacular. 

First, the chain's colour went from gold to a brilliant scarlet. Then it seemed to become thinner and longer. Ranma flung one end of it at a tree and it wrapped around the trunk like Indiana Jones' whip. Ranma gave it a hard yank and it didn't budge. Then he flicked it away from the trunk with barely any power behind it, and it slipped away. 

The first test had give the chain the strength and dexterity of a bullwhip and made the user look like an experienced whip-fighter. '_Interesting.'_ The second test would was harder. It used a form of focused ki that he rarely ever delved into. The ki of depression. It took him some time to pull every ounce of depression he could gather together. What he got would only make the weakest Shishi Hokudan, but he channeled it anyways.

The chain changed not only it's colour this time, but it also made a drastic change to its basic shape. From the scarlet whip form that confidence had achieved, he now held a rather wicked looking axe in his hands. A emerald axe. Ranma just stared at it in disbelief. 

Depression ki had caused the chain to become a weapon to smite one's enemies with. The third test involved Akane's style of ki summoning. Anger ki. It didn't take Ranma nearly as long to summon anger as it had depression. When he believed he had enough, he sent it into the axe.

It changed again. This time the color was azure, and it was no longer an axe. Rather it had become a rather large, glowing mallet. Ranma blanched at the sight of that.

Finally, he channeled neutral ki back into the mallet and it morphed back into the golden chain again. Ranma went back to pondering it.

After a time, he set it to the side and held his hands out before him. Focusing as hard as he could, he closed his eyes and... pushed ki into his hands. He didn't have a specific form in mind. Or any specific type of ki. He just pushed the ki into the space in his hands.

If he had had his eyes open, he'd have seen the pulsating rod of gold forming there. But he didn't, so all he noticed was a slight crackling sound and a feeling of heat forming on his palms along with a superficial tingling. The rod formed itself neatly in the empty space on his palms. Every once in a while, a brief spurt of energy would crackle up in along the bar. 

Finally he opened his eyes to behold what he had wrought. In his hands a golden rod about three feet in length rested. Intricate designs trailed up and down and all around its length. It was simply beautiful to look upon. But Ranma didn't create it to look at it. 

He grasped one end tightly then swung the far end towards a nearby tree. To his astonishment, it lengthened enough to destroy the tree, sending up a shower of wooden fragments. He brought it back around, and it shrunk back to its original length. He stared at it with a sudden sense of pride. He had noticed the chain changing lengths while Goldie was wielding it, and now he had made something that did the same. He smirked. Of course, he had! He was Saotome Ranma after all!

The next step was simple, he would put it through the same tests has he had the chain.

Confidence ki created a scarlet grappling hook of some kind. 

Depression ki created a emerald katana with an edge to rival the sharpest of the ancient masters' blades.

Anger ki created a azure mallet. As Ranma beheld that he wondered if anger could ever make anything besides mallets. He thought about it for a moment, then came to a decision_. 'Nah.'_

His tests satisfied, he changed the rod back to its original form and hid it away. Then he crawled into his tent, just as the sun was rising. 

**********

He arose later that day with a yawn and a smirk. He drug himself out of the tent, fixed and ate a brief meal, then begin stretching and otherwise preparing for the day's work.

After finishing his morning, or rather afternoon, routine, he wandered off to a nearby clearing. No reason to destroy his home away from home as far as he could see. 

Once there, he closed his eyes and reached within himself. He could feel his massive energy stores raging against the barricades he placed upon it. Opening a small door in those barriers, he allowed a swift stream to burst for the opening and fill him with a sense of power. 

Focusing that power into his hands, he fired off a couple of Moko Takabushi to warm up. He followed that with his newest ki-based attack, the Saotome Ryü Sentaku, Naminooyu. 

The steaming flood of ki rushed out from his spread palms to wash against a set of boulders standing not far from him. To his surprise, no damage was caused to the boulders, yet he knew that it had hurt Blue-girl. He smirked. Of course, he had discovered an attack that could harm opponents but leave the surrounding property undamaged! He was the greatest martial artist in the world, after all! 

Pulling out his golden rod, he began running through the few armed kata that he knew. After a time, he began improvising. The rod changed forms and colours as he moved through the intricate steps, flowing along with him like an extension of himself. 

He knew that he had to return the chain. Just as the rod was a part of him, created from his life force, he felt that the chain must be a part of Goldie. And he didn't truly wish to cause her harm. So, he decided that he must return it.

As the day began to draw to a close, he made his way back to his camp, prepared and ate his dinner, and drug himself into slumber.

**********

It was the last day of his training trip. The next day, he had to be home in time for school that morning. So the first part of the day was spent breaking down his campsite and stowing all of his supplies away. He was careful not to leave any signs of having spent time in the one place. It was a nice site after all, and he might like to be able to return unmolested someday.

By noon, he was prepared to leave. But first, he felt that there was something he needed to do. So, returning to his practice grotto, he focused upon that feeling.

What he got was an image of Rei. Or rather, Sailor Mars. In particular, her Burning Mandela. That fierce attack had startled him the first time he had seen, and felt, it's force. But the thing that really interested him was the fact that it wasn't confined to one opponent. The way his luck had a way of turning, it was probably in his best interest to form some kind of similar attack. He had been pondering the Burning Mandela attack for some time now.

So he thought about it, and focused his attention to the problem. Finally, he arrived at a solution. 

Using a combination of the Kaschu Tenshin Amigurken and the Moko Takabushi, he arrived at a novel solution. 

Targeting the boulders, he struck.

"Sakkidatta Ha!" 

The barrage of launched strikes pummeled the boulders into dust. He smirked, picked up his pack and walked away.

It was time to go back to Nodoka's.

__

End Section Second


	11. Fire Burning Brightly - Ignition

Chapter 11 __

Chapter Three: Fire Burning Brightly

Section Third: Ignition

As soon as classes were released for the day, both Rei and Ranma could be found headed towards the park. No particular esoteric reason behind the action. They were just two friends, who happened to also be cousins, spending some time together. Nothing unusual about that, right?

Well, nothing unusual if one did not realize the reason behind their choice of destination. 

The two had chosen the park because of the unlikelyhood of anyone actually interfering with their training. 

Normally, they most likely would have chosen to train at the shrine. However, that particular day their mutual grandfather had chosen to engage in some kind of ritualistic cleansing, and they didn't wish to get in the way. Personally, Rei would have much preferred to be at the shrine, but there was still that nagging task that kept dragging itself to the forefront of her mind. 

It was the day. Finally it was time. 

Today, Ranma would burn.

**********

They reached the rather small grotto that had housed the weeks earlier battle between Onna-Ranma and the other four members of the Inner Senshi. That tiny fact, and the rather ironic additional one of him rather awkwardly preparing to spar with the fiery Sailor Mars, caused him to chuckle a bit, rather nervously. 

Saotome Ranma didn't hit girls. It was an integral part of his very being, of his personality. He didn't hit girls. It was something that was NOT DONE. Or rather, it was something that should be avoided at all costs. It wasn't that he didn't think girls could fight or anything. After all, he turned into one, didn't he? No, the reason was quite simply that Ranma Saotome was an egotistical, sexist bigot. It wasn't his fault. It was just how he was raised. He didn't really have anything to do with it. It was just a sad fact that his father was an egotistical, sexist, larcenistic bigot who raised his son to be in his image. Somehow, Ranma fortunately missed the larceny part, but he definitely got large helpings of the other.

Not that he WOULDN'T fight girls. Rather it was that he didn't like it. He would fight. He just wouldn't be happy about it. 

Which meant that he wasn't happy about fighting, or even sparring, with someone like Rei, or rather Sailor Mars, since Rei wasn't all that spectacular as her mundane self. It wasn't so much that she was a girl, though that definitely caused a good portion of the distress, but rather that she was a girl who was RELATED to him. And that meant that Nodoka would probably kill him if he hurt her. Which meant that Ranma was very focused on her defense and not so much on his own.

And this was Saotome Ranma. So, that wouldn't be so bad. 

It was just that today was different.

It was just that Sailor Mars wasn't focusing on his defense so much.

It was just... just... 

Never mind what was said earlier. 

It was bad.

**********

Rei pulled her guise of Sailor Mars about her. No fancy light show, no yelling, no nudie show. Nothing like that. Just one moment she was the shrine maiden, Hino Rei, and the next the pretty sailor-suited soldier of love and justice, Sailor Mars. 

Ranma just kind of stared. "Hey, didn't you say that when you first changed there was a big light show and stuff?" He asked, referring to a comment she had made once during their time on the steeple.

Mars just watched him for a moment before deciding that he was truly ignorant, not stupid. "Yeah, during the first time I changed. I've learned a bit since then. Besides, how do you think I manage to get around in a busy city like this without showing everyone who I am with a fancy light and sound show? Hmmm?"

"But didn't you say the other girls still use the light show?"

"The other girls think it's neat. They all have their reasons. Jupiter once said she liked the feel, the formality or something like that. Mercury's just a closet exhibitionist. And Moon probably uses it as a distraction."

"Ok, but what about the other one?"

"Other one?"

"Yeah, you only mentioned three. But you said there was four others."

"Oh. Venus. She probably thinks its neat cause its magic. She's one of those Society freaks."

"Society freaks?" Ranma deadpanned.

"Yeah. Society of Creative Anachronisms or something or other. She's a reenactor. Though I've heard some people refer to her as a 'Stick–jock' though I really don't know what that is." 

Ranma stared at Mars. Mars stared at Ranma. Finally they both shrugged.

"Weird." 

"Yeah, well, let's get to sparring shall we?" 

Ranma gulped slightly, then settled himself and smirked. "I've been waiting all day to hear that."

"You asked for it!" Mars replied, charging at him with a nervous grin.

**********

They sparred for some time, the day progressing eventually into night and their attacks lighting the Juuban skyline. Neither giving, nor expecting much in the way of quarter from either side. 

Ranma, for his part, was slowly loosing up and showing more of his signature style. His blocks got flashier. His kicks and punches, though still light, were much faster and unpredictable. He was finally leaving the more traditional styles and advancing rapidly into the esoteric realm of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts. 

Mars, on the other hand, was slowly growing from just tired to out and out right exhausted. She wasn't exactly used to the speed, skill, or power available to her as Sailor Mars being called upon and actually used for such an extended period of time. It was an fatiguing task that she had set for herself, and yet there was still something about it that was unfinished.

It took her a moment to compose herself. Then she leap back from the battle, leaving Ranma standing in the center with a look of surprise on his face. 

Perhaps he thought that she was asking for a break in the battle. Perhaps he was trying to figure out what she was doing. Perhaps he just didn't know the truth behind her actions.

Whatever it was, he didn't move as, with tears streaking down her delicate features, she yelled out three words followed by a battle cry.

"Ranma! I'm sorry!" she screamed, through a throat hoarse with tears. "Fire... Soul... BIRD!!" 

The powerful attack based upon the Sacred Bird that Ranma, no, Shima had trained her in so long ago smashed into the raven-haired man who stood in the center of the clearing staring up at her with eyes full of betrayal. 

She collapsed to her knees at the first sounds of his piercing screams. 

Sobs wracked her form and tears poured down her face. Nothing like Usagi's waterworks, but simple honest tears of a cousin who had just killed the man who was possibly the reincarnation of her brother who was dead these many years gone and past. 

How could he ever forgive her betrayal?

**********

Across Tokyo, in the nearby district of Nerima, the youngest daughter of Tendo Soun awoke with a scream. Tears trickled down her soft face at the nightmare. It had seemed so real. Her dearest Ranma encased in flames and her helpless to protect him, having given her sworn word not to interfere. The tears just came faster and the sobs harder knowing that at least part of the terrifying dream was true in that she couldn't be with Ranma. The only consolation she could find to give herself was the fact that it was just a nightmare, and that Ranma was probably safe at his home, sleeping in his bed with no worries at all. 

It was for the best that she never learned the true horror of that out of body experience. That alone would have destroyed Tendo Akane then and there.

**********

Ranma screamed as the Fire seared away the impurities of flesh from his soul and bore it away. 

**********

He _moved_ down the marble hall, his golden armor casting odd reflections off of the wall, as it seemed to glow under its own power. It wasn't that he walked down the hall. No, nothing so simple as that. He was the living embodiment of confidence. He was a Warrior and Warleader of great renown. He was Golden Death with a Firesword on horseback. He was the Phoenix's Champion Among Mortals, his very Prince. He was Shima of Mars. The Man who had Turned Down the Throne of War for the Phoenix. All this and more was said in his stride. He smirked at the few servants he saw in the hall. It only served to enhance the image he was creating for himself as the newly returned Phoenix Prince.

All of that was ruined by a young girl, barely even into her womanhood, crashing headlong into his aureate chestplate and smearing blood all over it. 

Reacting purely out of instincts, he caught the girl, scooping her up into his arms as he stooped down on one knee. He glared down at her, fully intending to scold the foolish child. Then he recognized the pained features as those of his younger sibling, Reiki. He shook his head ruefully for a moment before she opened her eyes.

His sable braid slipped down over his shoulder as he smirked down at her. Setting her back upon her feet, he straightened. 

It was not to last. As soon as she could, she flung herself at him, somehow managing to glomp his waist before he could react. 

"Onii-san! You're here!" the girl cried, not even bothering to attempt to stop the flow of blood down her face and onto her dress and his armor. 

"Yeah, seems like I am." 'Though sometimes I seriously wonder why I even bother, with this kind of reception...' "Did you know you were bleeding on your dress?" 'And my armor.' 

As she didn't react, or release him, he scooped her up in his arms and continued _moving_ down the hall. "We should go and take care of that, don't ya think?" 'As you obviously don't plan on doing it on your own...' "Can't have the prettiest princess on Mars dying on us now, can we?" 'The ONLY princess on Mars...' He rumbled as he moved down the hall.

The 'prettiest princess on Mars' just chuckled and pinched at her nose, before proceeding to smear even MORE blood on his armor. "I'm not gonna die from a nose bleed, Shima-onii! I've gotten lots of nose bleeds in training!"

"Training?!" 'What kind of idiot gave this klutz a weapon??' "For what, Reiki-imoto?" 

**********

The flames leapt and danced around the strange man in his father's Hall, but Shima wasn't worried about that. He was much more worried about the people that this strange golden man might harm.

So, he sat amidst the heat of the flames and pulled the freezing cold aura that he had recently learned to create around him. As he did he stared into the black, flaming orbs of the creature before him. 

For a long time, that was all that happened. Then he dropped the aura and just sat there amidst the searing heat and smirked. The being smiled back at a fellow soul.

"I am the Phoenix." The voice that emerged from the fiery 

man's throat sounded like a child singing. "Every five hundred years, I die and am again reborn. This has continued for eons of your time. Always I have stayed away from your kind. Yet suddenly, I find my existence interrupted. One of your kind, on the sphere called Earth, a king by the name of Solomon sought to confine me within a vessel as he had done to my fellow spirits so that he could draw from my powers as he does from theirs. I alone am now free. As this assault was from your kind, I come to your kind for justice. I seek one to be my Champion Amongst Mortals. One of your kind who shall have the ability to draw from me in his time of need. My Champion need not be of Royal blood, but as my Champion, he shall be a true Prince. He shall be known as the Phoenix Prince."

Shima stood from his seat and stepped more fully into the Phoenix's flames. 

"I shall go." His voice steady, firm.

"You? You are but a boy! There must still be much for you to learn, is there not? Surely there is some other more worthy here, on the Sphere of War?"

"Perhaps there is some other more worthy, but I'll take their place. Your flames are hot and burn very brightly. I'd not have any suffer when I could possibly take that risk in their stead. No, I shall go."

"This is your true wish, mortal? Realize that you can never go back once you have accepted. You can never return to what you are now. The Fires shall burn you and change you, until perhaps not even you yourself could recognize the result."

"That is not of matter, Phoenix. I cannot desert my people in their hour of need. I shall not. I shall go with you, and so, preserve them."

"Very well, mortal. Bid you your farewells, for in the morn, I shall take you away to become the Phoenix Prince."

**********

"Amilia, is it not?" Shima asked, coming up behind the young azure headed girl reading in the peaceful grotto. He had doffed his armor in favor of a slightly more civilized ensemble of cloth of gold with an embroidered symbol of the Phoenix on the back of his tunic. 

She did not startle, as many others did. She merely looked up at him and smiled her soft and gentle smile before answering quietly. "Yes, Shima-sama. That is correct. You must be looking for my sister, though. You can find her down that path there. She is probably practicing." The girl answered, before returning her eyes to her book. Surely such a handsome and obviously active man as the Phoenix Prince would not bother to deign to speak with someone as quite and bookish as her. Like every other man, he was most likely looking for Akai. No one ever really wanted to be around Akai's shy twin sister.

"Actually," Shima replied, settling down at her side, a book in his hand. "I wasn't." He held up the thin tome in his hand as evidence. "I was just looking for a quite place to read, and you looked like you'd be the perfect partner."

Amilia blushed at the compliment. She wasn't used to people like Shima. But, nonetheless, she looked back up from her book and smiled at him again. "T-t-thank you, Shima-sama... I would be honored..."

"Don't bother with the sama stuff. I'm no grand high lord to be called such."

"But you are the Phoenix Prince are you not?"

"I am. But I don't truly care much for titles, besides, you're a Princess yourself if I remember right. So, you can call me just plain Shima. I'm not gonna burst into flames or nothing if you do. At least I don't think I will..." he stood up and spun around, leaving the book sitting on the bench.

Amilia smiled again. "O-o-ok, Shima-s.. Shima."

He immediately burst into flames, much to Amilia's horror. He just looked at his flaming self, then looked back up at her. Then he shrugged. Causing her to be one very puzzled Mercurian Princess. 

"Well, maybe I will burst into flames." He shrugged again, then held out a hand. "Give me your hand, Amilia."

She just stared at the flaming palm being offered to her.

"Come on, Amilia-chan. I haven't got all day."

Tentatively, she reached out and clasped the burning appendage after setting her book on the bench. 

Pulling her to her feet and into his arms, he smirked down at her. "Tell me something, Amilia. Have you ever flown before?"

She shook her head quickly. Her eyes round with surprise at not having been burnt.

"Well, I guess there's always a first, isn't there?" He smirked and with a great leap into the air, the pair soared away on broad wings of flame. 

**********

"You always this brutish, or you just practicing in order to be brutish towards me in particular? Hmm, Firebrand?" Shima asked the cobalt headed girl who was methodically destroying rather large chunks of masonry as he leaned against the doorway. 

In response, Akai stopped long enough to glare, then sent her fist crashing into another brick. 

"Geez, what's your problem, Firebrand?" He asked, pushing off the door frame and walking into the room. 

She pulled a pair of books out of her dogi, along with a small burnt rose. He inspected the offerings and then looked back up at her with a puzzled look on his face. 

"So?"

"So?! So?! I found these in a grotto where I THOUGHT I left my SISTER! I come back to tell her its time to come in for lunch, and what do I find?"

"Hey! I made sure she ate lunch!" Shima interrupted indignantly. 

"THAT IS NOT THE POINT!! The point is my sister vanished and its YOUR FAULT!" Akai roared in response, her face turning Martian Red.

"So, I took your sister flying. What're you getting so upset about? It's not like I've EVER seen anyone being nice to her before!"

"SO?! So, you involved MY sister in something so dangerous as FLYING with a BOY??" Akai continued on her rampage, completely oblivious to Shima's replies.

"Oh."

"Oh, WHAT?"

"You're jealous!"

"I'm WHAT?!"

"Jealous. Your shy, rather unpopular sister got to do something that you didn't. You're jealous."

"I AM NOT!"

"You are too. Besides, I'm not a boy. I'm at least 6 years older than you."

"I AM NOT AND YOU ARE TOO!"

"Interesting idea. Tell you what, how about you meet me in the grotto and I'll take you out to dinner?"

Akai just stared at him.

**********

The dinner had been nice. A bit formal but nice. Now, they were enjoying a rather leisurely walk through the rose gardens. Which was also nice. Mainly because Akai wasn't being a brute. 

She was actually quite beautiful. What with the way the earthlight was reflecting off of her ivory complexion and that rather nice silvery blue dress. In fact, he could seriously think that she was his type of girl. A beautiful spitfire. A girl, no, a woman that could keep up with him. Take his best shots and fire right back.

'What am I thinking?! Falling for one of my BABY sister's friends?! By the Phoenix! She's just a child!'

Nearby, the mildly telepathic Minanoai hid in the bushes an giggled at the rather loud thought. 

He noticed. He just deigned to actually do anything to ruin the moment. 

**********

The royal ballroom. Nice. Wasn't exactly what he was expecting though. Maybe he thought it was bigger. 

Well, that was unexpected. 

There, moving slowly around the marble floor was the blonde heir to the Lunar Throne. Serenity-hime. Dancing with no partner to no music. 

That simply would not do.

Stepping over to her, Shima bowed deeply, as befitted her status, despite the fact that he was technically her equal because of his association with the Phoenix. Serenity-hime startled out of her reverie at the sudden courtly interruption.

"Y-y-yes, Shima-san?" She asked, a delicate blush beginning to color her cheeks.

"I noticed you in here dancing, Serenity-hime. Yet, I failed to notice your partner."

"O-oh... is that all?"

"Of course not, Serenity-hime! It is a terrible thing that you should have no partner, nor may I add, music which does befit your graceful semblance!"

Serenity-hime blushed even deeper. "no one ever wants to dance with me. I tend to trod heavily upon their toes."

"Then, I shall welcome any and all discomfort caused by your most delicate feet if I should have the distinct pleasure of having this dance with you, your highness?" Shima bowed again, offering out his hand.

Serenity-hime giggled slightly, but took the out stretched hand. 

From somewhere, Shima produced a cassette player and turned it on, causing a sweet waltz to waft into the air. With a smirk, he took Serenity-hime's hands and the pair drifted off into a complex Lunar Waltz.

**********

"Alright, Imoto. Let your consciousness flow into the Sacred Fire here." 

Reiki sat and stared at the fire. Then she stared some more. Finally, she gave up.

"I can't, Oniisan! I just can't!"

"You can, Reiki-imoto. I believe in you. All you have to do is relax. Trust the Flames. They will guide you as you learn to walk through the Fire. In time, you will learn to guide them, as is your rightful place as the Senshi of Fire." Shima smirked at his rather frustrated little sister who was glaring at the Sacred Fire he had taught her to build.

Reiki just growled.

Shima sighed slightly and shook his head. 

"Listen. You want to be able to talk to me when I'm away, don't you?" He asked.

Reiki frowned in puzzlement, but nodded her agreement with the idea. 

"Okay. Well, the only way that you are going to be able to do that is by sending your thoughts through the Sacred Fire. That way, no matter where I am, I can hear you." 

Reiki nodded again, then sat down in sezia before the Sacred Fire. She took a deep breath, let it out, then took in another and closed her eyes. By the time she let out the second breath, she was deep into a trance state. 

She reached out gently with a tendril of thought towards the Fire. In return, the Fire reached out and caressed her thought with a gentle warmth. Shima had been right! The Fire would be her guide!

She smiled in the trance, and Shima just shook his head with a grin. He knew she could do it, he just had to convince her that she could.

**********

"Careful, Kina. Don't overextend yourself." Shima murmured softly as he watched the younger girl sparring. 

He winced as her body smacked hard into the mats. Her opponent, a Jupiter Knight, snorted and walked off. Not even bothering to help her up.

Shima stepped in then. He strode over, glaring at the back of the departing Knight the entire time. Leaning down, he offered her a hand and pulled her up. Finally getting her on her feet, he dusted off her back.

"You okay, Kina-chan?" 

"I'll be fine, Shima." She replied, staring wistfully at the departing form.

Shima noticed the direction of her gaze. "Why are you staring at him like that, Kina?"

"Because he's so good and handsome, and I can never even hope to be that good." She sighed in reply.

"He's not that good." 'Or that handsome...' "Why do you think you couldn't be at least as good as him, if not even better?"

"I can't learn. He's so fast and good, that I can never hope to learn."

"Well, first off, he's an awful person. I mean, anyone with a shred of decency in him would have helped anyone as pretty as you up. Especially if he was the reason you were on the floor. Second, he's not a particularly good fighter and he's an even worse teacher. You can learn, Kina. I've seen you pick up things so fast, it makes my head boggle. He just doesn't want to take the time to teach you."

"But he's the only one willing to teach me, Shima!" Kina looked like she was about to cry.

"No. I'll teach you, Kina-chan."

"Y-y-you'll teach me? B-but you're the Phoenix Prince, Shima!" 

"That doesn't matter. You're my friend, Kina. And I won't let you down."

"You're my friend? I don't have many friends. Only the girls. You're the first boy I've ever been friends with. Does that make you my boyfriend?"

Shima smirked. "I guess, Kina. I guess."

**********

"Hurry, girls! Hurry!" Shima roared from the point, his Firesword cleaving the life from the Youma surrounding him as he cleared a path for the five girls behind him. 

At his side, Akai the firebrand sent gout after gout of hot water blasting into the attacking creatures. To his other side, Kina doomed the beasts to death with her electrifying attacks, willing to die to help her 'old boyfriend', as she jokingly called Shima. Next to Kina, Reiki incinerated fiends to the left and right. Over by Akai, Minanoai was shooting down daemons overhead with the accuracy of a trained sniper. In the center of their informal arrowhead formation, Amilia used her computer to locate weak points and used her powers to provide defensive shielding.

It would have been a great battle. One for the history books. Only one problem. The person that they were fighting so hard to get to was already dead with her beloved. It was over before it had even really began. 

One by one they fell, and were sent forward by Queen Serenity. First, Kina fell, impaled upon a beast's claw, she took out more than a hundred more with the explosive release of all of her powers at once. Next Minanoai. A lucky hit knocked her off balance and she went down to be trampled underfoot, but not before letting off the most powerful Shower that anyone had seen. It was Amilia that was laid low next. A flying daemon came down and picked her off the ground. Minutes later, its and others' frozen carcasses came thudding down. 

For a while, it looked as though they were going to win. Akai and Reiki and Shima. All three fighting for each other. The Youma were thinning faster and faster, until there were almost no more. 

It was one of the last that got Akai. It came up behind her and raked its claws down her back. She never even had a chance to wreak her vengeance. Shima did that for her. With a wild, unforgiving roar, he leapt into the fray, Reiki at his side. His Firesword left huge swaths of destruction in his path, his fists and feet, glowing with power, did no less. Finally, it seemed all were gone.

Shima made his way slowly back over to Akai's still form. Unlike the other's she had not vanished. He knew why. It was because only one could be sent from each royal family. He fell to his knees and gathered Akai's cooling body to him as tears ran down his face. 

"Phoenix! I call!" Shima screamed, his voice thin. "I have need of your powers! Send Akai and I into the future! Find us a place where we can be together and send us there!" 

The flames were blinding. They leapt up and consumed Shima and Akai, taking them away from Reiki and the moon forever.

**********

Back in the present, the flames finally charred a hole in the ground and Ranma fell into the hole formed, a grinning skeleton of his former self. 

The loose dirt fell down upon him and hardened into glass as it did. 

**********

__

End Section Third

End Chapter Three

End Book One

Author's notes: Lots of little hints in here! And boy is this chapter HUGE! I mean, THREE SECTIONS! Gosh. Anyways, this marks the end of Book One. Which means that you have to wait for Book Two! That's right! Book TWO! I've got 10 books and an epilogue planned for the Saga. So, don't worry, more's on the way! 

As for the Society mention, it's because quite a few SM fans seem to be Society members. This was a bow in their direction. And to those who know what a stick-jock is... MUHAHAHAHAHA! I have made Minako into a stick-jock! If enough people like it, I'll write a side story with Minako and Ranma/Shima at a Ren. Faire... Depends on the response...


	12. Kindle

Chapter 12 **__**

Book Two: The Burning

Part Four: Ablaze

Chapter One: Kindle

The young lad, once the High Prince of Mars, walked along at the side of the being who had claimed his troth only two days earlier in the Throne Hall of Mars. He was a handsome boy, if a bit on the thin and scrawny side. Some might even have been tempted to call him pretty or effeminate if it wasn't for the sword hilt dangling from his belt. 

The hilt itself wasn't truly awe inspiring, rather it was the promise of what had the possibility of protruding from the hilt at any given time. The Sword of the High Prince, which he still retained despite having surrendered his title for the dubious honor he strode towards, had been known to sprout blades of many varied and sundry types. On occasion, a blade formed of pure light had formed, on others lightning and yet others called forth a blade of purest fire. Only once had a more material form been summoned. That had been during the fated duel to the death betwixt him and his arc nemesis, the Raging Boar, sometimes better known by his given name, Butano Gekido. During that battle, despite the fact that Shima had won the hand-to-hand duel notwithstanding that Shima was half the size of the monstrous warrior, Gekido had chosen to attack the victorious prince in a blind rage as he left the arena. Shima had reacted with the speed of a lifetime of training in the Arts of War. He had drawn the Sword of the High Prince from where he had just hung it at his hip, whirled about, and, summoning a blade, plunged it to the hilt in the chest of the berserk gladiator. The blade had been formed of a rainbowed crystalline structure unlike any before seen in the Lunar Realm. 

And so Butano Gekido died with an expression of shock on his face as his killer looked on in tears. For Shima had not wished to kill his opponent. Despite their differences and animosity, the two youthful knights of the Solar Kingdom had been true friends. Later, it had been discovered that the burlier warrior had been drugged in an attempt to create the perfect assassin of the juvenile cavalier. Shima himself had delivered Gekido's lifeless corpse into the arms of the boy's father. Even three years after the event, it still brought pain to the prince's heart.

**********

He was suddenly shaken from his silent reverie by the duo's arrival at their destination. A massive slab of iron stood before the pair barring their passage further down the ancient corridor.

The being at his side gestured towards the gigantic slab of primitive metal and spoke in his fluting, child-like voice.

"In here, Mortal, you shall find the first stage of your transformation into my Champion."

"Lord Phoenix, I am sorry, but I do not understand."

Lord Phoenix stared at the mortal for a solid minute before replying.

"You are weak, as are all mortals. You are like this iron, which was extracted from the ore, as you were from the womb. You are malleable, flexible. You have no path chosen. If you are struck with power, you bend, if you do not break. You are brittle. You are fragile. Like iron. However, iron can be refined through fire with other materials into steel, which is strong. You must be refined, through the fires, with courage and determination. As with the creation of steel from iron, my Champion shall be created of strength from weakness through several stages. This is the first of many. As steel must come of iron, there are hidden strengths in even the weakest. Find yours." 

With that, Lord Phoenix vanished in a brilliant flare of white hot flames.

**********

Shima stood in the ancient corridor for many hours, pondering the words of the Lord Phoenix. The iron slab loomed over his head the entire time.

He believed that he had tried everything. Not one single blade in the Sword of the High Prince's repertoire caused even the slightest scratch in the increasingly puzzling slab. Finally, he roared with frustration and slammed his fist into the slab. 

After recovering from the pain of doing something that infinitely stupid, he noticed a significant fact. 

The slab had moved.

It wasn't much. Only a few inches at the most, but it was a start! 

With a grim smile the young ex-High Prince quickly tied back his long raven dark hair into a tight braid and tied it off with a scrap of thread he tugged from his tunic hem. Then he wrapped his braid around his neck several times to keep it out of his way, set his shoulders against the slab and heaved against it with all of his strength.

It didn't move.

Puzzled he took a step back to reassess the situation. 

"So, if I slam my fist into, which really, really hurt, it moved. But when I pushed it as hard as I could, nothing happened."

He stared at his throbbing hand in bewilderment. Which was when he noticed the fact that he was bleeding. He raised his fist to his face and stared at the blood creeping down the back of his hand from his split knuckles deep in thought. Then he walked over and examined where he had struck the slab. 

Just as he had suspected, there was blood on the slab. 

"Very clever. Very clever. Hidden strengths." Shima chuckled as he began smearing as much of the blood from his hand as he could onto the slab. 

He reached out and smacked his hand against the slab, causing the palm to sting rather nicely. 

The area covered in his blood slid back and disappeared. 

Shima quickly tore off a piece of his tunic and bound his still bleeding hand. Then he strode through the slab to where the Lord Phoenix was waiting on the other side. 

**********

The duo had traveled for many days through the torturous twisting of the catacombs in the Earth mountain the Lord Phoenix called his home. Unfortunately for Shima, Lord Phoenix still didn't truly know how to treat his new mortal. They had disdained food, water and sleep for the past several days. Shima was steadily growing weaker, but he adamantly refused to give in and prove that the Lord Phoenix had been correct about him.

Typical arrogantly stupid mortal. Creatures like the Lord Phoenix are generally right when they pass judgement about a person.

**********

They were fast approaching the end of their second week of travel. Shima had faced down and defeated several more obstacles, but he was very frail now. His clothing, once well fitted, now hung loose on his emaciated frame. The Sword of the High Prince hung heavy at his hip, its belt wrapped nearly double around the haggard prince.

To put it simply, Shima, who had once been the High Prince of Mars and the Heir to the War Throne, was dying.

And he knew it. 

But that, by no means, meant that he would admit it to anyone.

Not even himself.

**********

It had been a long and arduous journey. It had taken the better part of two weeks without food. Without sleep. And without water. But he had survived. He had triumphed at last!

Barely. 

His skeletal hand reached out and seized the ornate golden handle of the elaborate portal that the Lord Phoenix had informed him would lead him to a place where he could rest and, if he so chose, return to his home. The tests were over. He had passed.

With a weak smile, the moribund mortal opened the door and passed through the portal.

**********

The flames leapt up to catch him as he fell. And he fell forever, the fiercely hot flames eating at his soul for all eternity. 

__


	13. Sear

Chapter 13 __

Chapter Two: Sear

The Champion of the Phoenix Amongst Mortals sat in his spartan quarters and buffed at his already gleaming armor trying to eradicate all traces of blood on the aureate metal. Finally, he sighed and laid his polishing rag to the side. He just couldn't get the blood out of the grooves of his patron's sigil. 

Picking up the armor, he stalked over to the roaring fire that provided the room with heat and tossed the whole mess in. The flames danced about the armor and began their task of eating the impurities. 

Shima left the flames to their job and flung himself onto the simple cot that served as his bed. He stared up at the ceiling and tried to figure out the events of the past few days. 

**********

The last thing he really remembered was falling. 

And fire. Always fire. He couldn't forget the flames. Not him being who he was and all. 

And home. He remembered thinking how much he wanted to see his little sister that he had helped so much to raise after their mother died and father remarried to that nasty Earth Queen. It hadn't been so bad at first. They didn't really have to deal with her much, but after the birth of that squalling brat Zoisite... he just thanked Mars that the brat had been picked to be one of the guards of the High Prince of Earth. 

Then, suddenly, he found himself _moving_ down one of the corridors of Mars! Golden armor covered his body, which had gone from scrawny to buff in a surprisingly quick time. And the way he was _moving_! It was like he had never had a doubt about his abilities in his life! It seemed like he had been reborn a new man!

Then he realized it and sat bolt upright on his cot. 

He _had_ been reborn a new man! 

What was it Lord Phoenix had said when they first met? 

"Every five hundred years I die and am reborn anew."

Shima threw himself in front of the narrow shaving mirror that was propped up on his small bureau and inspected his clean shaven features in a new light. 

He was a handsome man. Now fully grown, no longer in that weird in-between stage that he had been caught at for so long. His raven hair was in its braid, but where the braid had once settled its thread-wrapped tip between his buttocks, it now brushed lightly against his shoulder blades, except for in times like these when he was stressed, in which case it tended to stick out like a wire. His shoulders were broad, but then they had always been broad, just like his hands had always been so large and ungainly. His limbs had lost that odd spindly look and muscles befitting a warrior of his stature had blossomed all along his body. 

He traced a scar that ran up his jawline with one trembling hand. The scar was old, faded, yet he knew, he just _knew_ that he had only received the blow which had caused it less than a week ago. He grasped his steel shaving razor in one hand and drug the sharp edge along his callused palm, raising a brilliant welt of thick scarlet blood in its wake. 

As he watched, white flames burst from the wound and sealed it until all that was left was a thin, pale, white line. He stared at his hand in shock and horror then stared into the mirror at his face again. 

What had he become?

**********

A few days later, he found himself in a similar situation to the one that had caused him to question his existence. 

He had just caught himself snarling at his little sister for no particular reason. The only reason that he had been able to stop himself from making it worse was the sight of the little girl that he had held in his arms sixteen years ago trembling and in tears at his words. He had nearly broken into tears himself at that as he had gathered her into his arms and apologized to her. The worst thing that he could see about it was that she had forgiven him.

He slammed his way into his quarters and hauled off the Golden Armor. As soon as it was off, he flung it into the flames and hurled himself into the closest chair he could find. Which just happened to be the marble monstrosity covered in furs that the servants had stuck into his quarters just so that they wouldn't have to deal with it. The fact that it was stone was the only thing that saved it from being crumpled under the force of Shima's impact. 

Shima lounged in the chair and glared at the fiery armor ensconced in the hearth. 

The armor was the problem, he decided. Every time he wore the damn thing, he ended up lashing out at everyone. Often for no real good reason other than the simple fact that they were human and they were there. 

Now he had lashed out at his sister. At the only real family he had. Things had gone much to far. 

It was time to speak with Lord Phoenix, himself. 

**********

Shima appeared in the main chamber of the Lord Phoenix's domain in a roar and rush of flames. He stalked across the cavern carrying the breastplate of his armor. When he reached the Lord Phoenix, he threw the armor to the ground at his patron's flaming feet.

"Your pardon, Lord Phoenix. But I think that we should talk."

Lord Phoenix's fluting voice filled the chamber with light in opposition to Shima's baleful baritone, but then the Spirits and their Champions were often at odds.

"Yes, Champion? What is it that bothers you?"

"Your... _gift_..., Lord Phoenix."

"Oh? Does it not fit well?"

"It fits just fine, Lord Phoenix."

"Oh. So, what is it that bothers you?"

"It removes my free will, Lord Phoenix." Shima's voice was barely civil, his teeth clenched tight behind the snarling mask his features had twisted themselves into.

"That is the point, Champion. A Champion is useless if he reasons for himself."

"I am ... _sorry_... Lord Phoenix, but I am _afraid_ that I cannot agree with that."

"And why not, Champion?" The Lord Phoenix raised a delicate eyebrow.

"I agreed to be your Champion, Lord Phoenix. I agreed to _protect you_ of my own _free will_, Lord Phoenix. I did _not_ agree to be your _slave_!" Shima had abandoned civility and was now openly snarling.

"Then do not wear the armor, Champion."

"I have no other garb other than the jerkin and pants that are worn underneath, Lord Phoenix. I have no choice if I must be seen." Shima's voice went back to being dangerously level.

"Very well, Champion. I shall supply you with garb fitting of my Champion."

"And the Golden Armor, Lord Phoenix?" Shima gestured towards the armor on the floor. "Shall you remove the magic upon it that takes from me my will?"

"Very well, Champion." The Lord Phoenix waved a blazing claw-hand at the Golden Armor. "It is done. You will find your new garb awaiting you at your quarters."

"And it is not enchanted either, is it, Lord Phoenix?" 

"No. It is not. Now, you may go."

Shima smirked at the Lord Phoenix as he gathered up the Golden Armor, bowed and exited in a roar of displaced air and a gout of golden flames.

***********

Being free of the enchantment and being allowed to be himself once more meant much to Shima. He even managed to tolerate a brief smile cracking his features instead of his traditional smirk once.

But he couldn't help but wonder how long it would be till the Lord Phoenix decided to make him pay for his impertinence. 

**********

As it turned out, it wasn't long at all.

__


	14. Agonize

Chapter 14 __

Chapter Three: Agonize 

It was almost three months later when it happened. 

The Lord Phoenix vanished. No one knew where he had gone. Not even his Champion Among Mortals, Shima of Mars. 

All that was left was an insolent rogue who claimed that the Lord Phoenix had passed on and left him in his place as his one true heir. 

The first act made by the 'heir' was to isolate the 'Phoenix Kingdom' into Mount Phoenix. The second was to declare war on the peaceful tribes of women in the area surrounding Mount Phoenix. His third act was to declare that the Phoenix and his Musk servants had no need of a 'champion', an action which earned him the ever burning hatred of the Champion.

His name was Saffron.

**********

"So, why can't you find him, Shima-san?" asked the beautiful blonde from Venus who was leaning against him as they sat against the east tower's roof wall of the Lunar Palace watching as Earth rose before them. 

"I don't know, Minanoai-chan. I just don't know." Shima sighed, as he wrapped one muscular arm around the small girl's shoulders and gave her a brief hug. "But I thank you for sitting here with me. I know you don't like the cold." He stood and offered her a hand up.

"It's alright, Shima-san. It was the least I could do after everything you did for us." Minanoai replied, accepting the hand and rising to stand beside him. 

"I haven't done much, Minanoai-chan. I haven't done much at all for any of you."

"Yes. You. Have." Minanoai riposted, even as she reached up and jabbed him in the nose to punctuate each word. "You've done ever so much for all of us, Shima-san. Before you came, no one wanted to even talk to us. We were dangerous, Shima-san. People were scared of us, and with someone like Akai it's not really that surprising why."

"So, she's a bit of a firebrand! People should be brave enough to talk to a group of girls as beautiful as you." 

"Thanks, Shima-san. But, you really were the first one to actually come up to any of us just to say hi and not to send us out somewhere to fight someone or something. You're like the big brother none of us really got to have. There are times when I envy Reiki-chan."

"Don't envy, Reiki, Minanoai-chan. You're just as much my little sister as she is. All of you girls are."

"Not all..." Minanoai giggled as her eyes twinkled mischievously up at the slightly blushing Shima. 

"Don't go there, Minanoai."

"Aw, you're no fun." She pouted, then shivered, only to cheer up a bit as Shima raised the edge his scarlet cloak and wrapped it around her slender shoulders. She snuggled in closer to his side as they walked along. "You know, if Akai catches us then she's going to be really mad."

"I can handle Akai, Minanoai-chan. Besides, she should know better by now."

"Should and do are two entirely different things, Shima-san."

"Don't I know it." Shima chuckled under his breath, but it lacked the humor it usually would have carried before the Lord Phoenix disappeared. Minanoai could tell that he was truly worried about his patron and wished that she knew how to cheer him up. "Well, here we are." 

They had reached the doorway back into the castle main. Shima pushed the heavy wooden door open and escorted Minanoai through the portal and back to her quarters. At her golden door, he knelt down till he was eye-level with her and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tight.

"Thank you, Minanoai. I really appreciate what you've done for me these past few days. I won't forget." Shima whispered into her ear, then released her. "Good night, Minanoai-chan. I shall see you in the morning."

"Good night, Shima-san. Thank you for walking with me tonight, I really appreciated it."

Then the two bowed and parted ways, Minanoai for her chambers and Shima for his quarters. Neither noticed the silent figure of Akai standing nearby, a single tear trickling down her face.

**********

"What's wrong, Sempai?" Kina asked, even as she flipped Shima up over her shoulder and down hard onto the mat.

Shima stood and dusted himself off. "Nothing, Kina-chan. Though I really wish you wouldn't call me that."

"What? Sempai? Why? Make you nervous?" Kina asked, her eyes mischievous. 

"Yeah, something like that." He replied wryly, rubbing at a still slightly painful lump on the back of his head where the cause of his nervousness had thwacked him. Hard. 

"Ok. I won't call you sempai if you tell me what's wrong."

"I already told you, Kina. Nothing's wrong."

"Right, Sempai. And I can throw the legendary Shima of Mars across the hall with ease everyday. You know, if you were anyone else, I'd say it was girl trouble."

"And what makes you think that it's not?"

"Simple. Because you are you. And everyone is just about head over heels for you except Serenity-hime, and that's just because she has Endymion to ogle."

"And you, Kina dear? What about you?"

"What? You want me to be head over heels with you?"

Shima replied very maturely by sticking his tongue out at her.

"Yep. Now I see where Reiki gets that. You've been hanging around Serenity-hime haven't you?"

"That doesn't matter, Kina-chan."

"No, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter because that's not the problem. I know you don't have girl trouble simply because Akai has you staked and claimed, boy."

"And I see you've been hanging around the Earth court."

"Hey. What can I say? Those are some hot looking guys! Not as hot as you, Sempai, but then there's damn well nobody in your league on this dustball."

"Flattery will get me in trouble, Kina-chan." 

"That's 'flattery will get you no where', and I see you've been rubbing off on Minanoai."

"So I can't always get the silly little sayings right. So what? It was right!"

"And you're changing the subject! Be a man, Sempai!"

"Don't challenge my manhood, Kina."

"I won't if you'll get the guts to tell me what's bothering you!"

"Fine. I'm worried about Lord Phoenix, ok?!"

"It's a start. Sempai, you know we're worried about you too, don't you?"

"Yeah, maybe."

"Hey. It's true!"

Then there was a knock on the door and a handsomely dressed Earthian stepped inside.

"Kina-hime? Are you ready to go?"

"Oh no! Fredrick! I'm so sorry! I'll be ready in a moment!" Then she returned her attention to Shima. "I'm sorry, Shima-san, but I did promise Fredrick that I'd..."

"Don't worry about it, Kina-chan. Go on. Have fun! Don't worry about me for once! I'll be fine. Just like always." Shima smirked at her and waved her towards the dressing room before leaving.

Again, Akai stepped into the room just one minute too late.

**********

Serenity-hime found Shima wandering alone though the Lunar Rose Gardens. 

"Shima-san? Are you alright?" she asked, coming up to him and laying a gentle hand on his arm.

Shima looked at the hand and followed her arm up to meet her gaze.

"Hello, Serenity-hime. I'm sorry I'd didn't greet you more properly."

"Nonsense, Shima-san. We're friends. I don't particularly care if you don't 'greet me properly'. I won't die if you don't, you know."

"Okay, Serenity-hime."

"Alright. Who are you and what have you done with Shima-san?!"

"Huh?!" Shima startled out of his reverie at last.

"You are nothing like Shima-san! Tell me where he is right now!" Serenity-hime continued to demand.

"H-h-hey! Waitasec! I'm Shima! I'm Shima!" Shima argued indignantly.

"Now that's the Shima I know. It's not like you to be so meek, Shima. Please, I'm asking you, cheer up. You're bringing us all down with you. If you keep this up, I'm going to start crying every time I see you!"

"No! Not that! Don't cry! Please don't cry!"

"Then cheer up, Shima-san! Can't you see that we're worried about you?!"

Shima just shrugged and turned away. Serenity-hime placed her hand onto his shoulder.

"Shima-san." He turned his head to look at her. "He'll turn up, Shima. He has to with someone like you worrying about him."

"Thank you, Serenity-hime. I appreciate that."

"It's okay, Shima. That's what friends are for." And she hugged him briefly around the waist before heading back into the bushes.

Shima wandered off shortly afterwards, mere seconds before Akai burst into the clearing out of breath. She stared around the clearing with a sort of forlorn expression and her shoulders slumped as she realized that there was no one there.

**********

Reiki caught him on a balcony.

"Oniisan?"

"What's up, Reiki?" Shima asked, his voice weary as he stared out over the Lunar landscape.

"Well, I'm kinda, worried about you Shima. You're not like you used to be. Not..." she waved her hands trying to find the right word. "Not... I don't know. Happy, I guess. What's wrong? Did you and Akai have a fight?"

"No." Shima's features twisted themselves into a wry grimace. "That's about the one thing that hasn't gone wrong yet. I give it till the end of the day. Akai's a firebrand with a bit too much nitro in her system. She'll probably find some reason to be mad at me before too long. The only reason she hasn't yet started something is probably because I haven't seen her yet."

"You know... you're probably the only guy she doesn't beat the hell out of as soon as she sees you. That's probably a good sign." Reiki tried hopefully.

"Good as in what? That she doesn't want to kill me? Great. Now I'm really happy." Shima just sighed and leaned his elbows on the balcony rail. "I don't know why I even bother, Reiki. I don't know why I even bother."

"Because you're one of the good guys, Shima. You have to win. No matter what. It's in you're contract, see?" Reiki pranced about, pretending to read through a rather large 'contract', "See? Chapter 124, Subsection 462.1778, Clause A, 'Being a 'good guy' as such entitles one Shima of Mars to always win, always get the girl and always save the world'. See! You have to win!" 

Shima looked back over his shoulder at her and just smirked while shaking his head. "You're crazy, Reiki. Did I ever tell you that?"

"You just did. So it's all cool. But really! You know why you bother, Shima! By Mars, just about EVERYone knows why you bother!"

"Oh? And why's that?" he asked, turning around to better see her. "Why do I bother, since you know so well, oh wise one?"

"Because. You. Love. Her. You IDIOT!" She finally yelped, tweaking his nose and hopping away. 

"Oh yeah." Shima straightened, nodding his head grimly. "That's it. I am so going to make you pay!" He roared, charging at her.

The two dodged and chased and tagged each other, just acting like little kids like they used to do. Finally, Shima caught Reiki, swung her up in his arms then leapt off the balcony.

Akai rushed in seconds later, only to see him flying away.

"shima..."

**********

Shima found himself, for once, back in the Lunar Rose Gardens with a thin, slightly singed book in one hand. He was searching for a quite little corner to read in. What he found was Amilia.

"Oh. I'm sorry, Amilia-chan. I didn't mean to startle you."

"That is alright, Shima-san. I was not too bothered by your intrusion." Amilia smiled up at him from her seat on the small bench.

"You know, we have to stop meeting like this." He deadpanned.

"Like what, Shima-san?"

"Well, me looking for a place to read and here I am, running into the perfect partner again. Oh, I promise not to burst into..."

"Do not."

"Do not what?"

"Do not promise not to burst into flames again."

"Uh, okay.. any particular reason why not?"

"I do believe that you can figure that out on your own, Shima-san."

"You know what?"

"What?"

"I like you."

"Very well, Shima-san. I do believe that I like you as well."

"It's just stuff like that."

"Like what, Shima-san?"

"Like the fact that I can actually talk to you when every time I try to talk to Akai she tries to hurt me in some fashion."

"Do not worry overmuch about Akai, Shima-san. She likes you. In her own fashion."

"You know what worries me about that, Amilia-chan?"

"No, Shima-san. I do not."

"Her fashion sense."

The pair looked at each other and groaned slightly at the horrible joke before Amilia started to chuckle.

"Well I'll be."

"What?" 

"You _can_ laugh!"

"Of course I am capable of laughter, Shima-san! I am rather appalled that you would imply that I was not." She turned away, pouting.

"Oh. Oh. Amilia-chan, look at me. Come on. Please? I'm sorry. Really I am. It was in bad taste, but I'm just so worried about the Lord Phoenix and I haven't seen Akai all day and... and..." He tried to explain.

"You have not seen Akai? That is most unusual. Both for a thing to be worried about and as an item of nonoccurrence."

"Run that by me again in Martian if you will."

"Oh. I am sorry. I merely stated that it seemed odd that you would be worried that you had not seen her yet and still odder that you have not seen her."

"Ok, I sometimes go a couple of days without seeing her. Why is that so strange?"

"Simply because she told me this morning that she wanted to talk with you and was going to go and find you."

"She did? She does? What about?"

"Do you honestly expect me to know absolutely everything about Akai?"

"Well, you are the best source for information, being her twin and all..."

"Well, in this case, I do not know."

"Oh. Well, sorry to bother you, Amilia-chan. I guess I'll see you around."

"It was no bother, but yes I suppose I will see you around as well. Good day, Shima-san."

"Good day, Amilia-chan."

Then Shima tucked his book into his shirt and stepped away from her into the center of the grotto and summoned his firewings to him. 

Just as he was about to take off, Akai burst into the clearing. Falling to her knees before him because she stumbled, she looked up at him, pleading with her eyes.

"Please, Shima..." she practically begged, "Take me with you." 

Shima looked down at her with an odd expression and then knelt before her and opened his arms. She all but leapt into his embrace and he stood with her in his arms. Nodding to a smiling Amilia, he leapt into the air, his firewings carrying the pair into the night sky.

**********

"I-I know that you've been upset lately, Shima..." Akai almost whispered, but as they were currently in the Shima's quarters, there was not much to deaden the sound, so he heard her clearly.

He nodded for her to continue, his brilliant sapphire eyes gleaming with an emotion that Akai wasn't sure that she wanted to recognize.

"And I, well, I didn't want to be part of that. What's upsetting you I mean." Akai paused to take a breath, licking her lips slightly out of nervousness. 

"Go on. I'm listening."

"I-I... well, I know I haven't been the nicest or the most understanding of people in the Realms, but... well, I kinda... sorta did it because I wanted to make sure..." She trailed off.

"Make sure of what, Akai-chan?" He asked.

"make sure you wouldn't leave." That was a whisper, but he caught it.

"And what made you think that I would leave, Akai-chan?" He asked.

"Everyone leaves me. Momma left when I and Amilia were little. Daddy... daddy hasn't left but there's not much of him with us anymore since Momma died. And Amilia leaves me with her books and science and I just can't keep up. Biki and Sumika are both so good at everything else that I just don't fit. So everyone leaves me behind. I-I wanted to make sure that you wouldn't."

"So you hit me. So you tried to drive me away. Because you honestly thought that I could leave you?"

"y-yes..."

"Well, it was certainly an odd way of going about it. You couldn't have just asked me?"

She nodded her head quietly.

"Well. Wow... wow. I don't what to say to that."

She looked up at him with fear evident in her dark eyes. He looked down and met her gaze.

"Don't look at me like that. I didn't plan on leaving then, and I don't plan on leaving now. Ok? I won't leave you. Not now. Not ever. Not if there is any possible way I can help it." Shima finally answered her unspoken question as he stood from his marble chair and crossed the room to wrap his arms around her and hold her tight. "Everything will be alright, Akai. You'll see. Somehow. Someday. Everything will be alright again. It just has to be."

Akai just wrapped her arms around his waist and tried to burrow into his chest. Her loud, wracking sobs of relief would have woken people anywhere else but the room they were in right now.

After a while she calmed down.

"Akai? Akai-chan? Are you okay now? I'll walk you back to your quarters if you like."

She shook her head. "You said you'd never leave me..."

"Akai-chan... I don't want to leave you. Really I don't... it's just that it wouldn't look right if we don't get you back to your rooms."

"I don't care how it looks! I don't want to be alone anymore! Why can't you stay with me?!" she finally pulled away far enough to stare into his eyes.

"People would talk, Akai-chan. Your... virtue and honor would be tarnished at best. I don't want to ruin your life, Akai."

"Shima. You listen to me. I. Don't. Care. Did you understand that? I don't care! I just want to be with you. Always and forever!"

"Why?"

"Because it hurts to be without you, Shima. And its hurt for so long and there's a chance that maybe it'll stop hurting now. I... I ... think I maybe... love you."

"Wow. This is just a night for deep things from you, isn't it, Akai?" Shima was officially confused. On one hand, he did care very deeply for her, on the other, he didn't want to bring her dishonor. He just didn't know what to do. When a little voice popped up in her head and cried out.

Marry her you idiot!

Akai was starting to look scared again when he set her down and took a deep breath. 

"Akai, Princess of Mercury?"

She nodded nervously.

"I've never done anything like this before but I know it should be romantic and stuff, its just that I'm not the most romantic guy in the Realm. Anyways, Akai, would you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?"

Akai stared at him in confusion before realization of what was going on hit her. 

She didn't vocalize. She just nodded her head and wrapped her arms around him and tears poured down her face.


	15. Precognition

Chapter 15 __

Part Five: Insight

Chapter One: Precognition - Reiki

Reiki walked down the corridor towards Shima's quarters by herself. She was hoping that he would have settled in by now, seeing as he had only came to the Moon Kingdom the day before. It had been several years since she had last seen her brother before he had left with the Lord Phoenix and now she wanted to get to know him again. 

She figured that one of the best ways to revive their faded bond was to bring him into her circle. After all, the citizens of the Realms feared him and his abilities nearly as much, if not more, than they feared her and her companions. If she could just – she didn't know exactly what she wanted him to do, but it would be great to have her brother back again. He wasn't just her brother, after all. He was her dearest friend, her confidant, and her teacher as well. And she just couldn't see why he couldn't be the same to her friends. 

That decided, she knocked timidly on the simple oaken door she had just arrived at. Moments later, the door opened silently on its well-oiled hinges. 

"Yes?" came Shima's husky baritone voice, preceding his appearance in the portal by an easy 15 seconds at least.

And finally, Shima stood before her in the entrance. He was dressed in the simple outfit he wore when he practiced his Arts. Black silken pants covered his legs with a strangely attractive manner of loose and tight areas. His feet were incased in simple black leather slippers without socks and a long, black, silk sash wrapped its way two or three times around his lithe waist. His torso was bare, revealing a exquisite assemblage of wiry chest and abdominal muscles. His long qui was wrapped several times around his neck, visible testament to its length. The rest of his midnight black hair spiked wildly about on his head as he refused to use the traditional oils that would slick his hair down neatly. His arms bore the marks of one long accustomed to the Arts of War. Finally, but his wrists were incased in the intricate bands of gold and steel that served him as bracers. Reiki could only blush at the sight of her handsome brother before her. 

"Well? Did you need something, Reiki, or were you just wanting to stare?" his mild question interrupted her reverie.

Reiki blushed even deeper at that. "I'm sorry, Shima. I-I just wanted to ask you to-to come with me and –" she stammered.

"And what, Reiki?"

Reiki looked up and met his eyes. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she finally continued. "I want you to come meet my friends, big brother. Will you?"

Shima looked at her for a short time more then shrugged. "I suppose I could do that. Do I need to dress fancy or anything, little sister?"

"Nuh-no, Shima. You don't. They're in the training hall right now."

He shrugged again. "Ok. Just let me grab my shirt."

Then he vanished only to reappear moments later wearing a sleeveless leather jerkin that was unlaced and his scarlet cloak over his pants and sash combo from moments ago. 

"Well, lead the way, little sister!" he finally stated with a smirk as he gestured grandly towards the corridor exit. 

**********

Reiki could not believe that that had happened! How could Akai attack her brother so vehemently?! So, he was a boy! He was her _brother_ for crying out loud! He was supposed to be a boy! 

And the others attacking them as soon as they walked in the room! At least Minanoai and Kina had the decency to look abashed at that gross injustice, but that childish girl, Akai! Sometimes Reiki found it hard to believe that her and gentle Amilia were twin sisters! 

She continued in a similar fashion well into the night.

**********

Reiki slipped silently across the freezing cold stone flags of her brother's chambers into the Sacred Fire antechamber. She knew that she didn't exactly have Shima's permission, or the permission of the Lord Phoenix, to be there, but she was worried about Shima. He had left three days before to join Serenity's Prince Endymion on Earth in order to assist the noble young Prince in ridding the Terran High Kingdom from its recent bandit infestation. Which really wasn't a big deal. The problem was that he had failed to send any form of contact back to lunar soil to inform anyone of his well-being. Even Akai had failed to hear from him.

Which was what led to Reiki's invasion of the sacred realm of the Sacred Fire antechamber. As soon as she entered the presence of the blazing bonfire that was the Sacred Fire, she bowed in obsequiousness to its amazing demeanor. Then there were preparations to attend to and she was kept busy for the next two Terran hours, all the while silently blessing the fact that she didn't have to relight the Flame, which would have easily added another three Terran hours to her tasks. 

It was quickly nearing the middle of the night before she was able to fold her legs properly underneath her and begin the ritual that would allow to use the Flame as a medium for her thoughts. Her hands and fingers flashed through the intricate movements with the practiced speed of one who had spent many time periods weaving through the same movements over and over. Her dark, flashing eyes were closed, though not very tightly. Her red lips softly formed the ritual words in that strange Terran language that Shima had insisted she learn, though her pronunciation bore a rather distinct and pronounced Martian accent.

"Ayro, Pin, Tou, Ryü, Sin, Jo." She whispered, though her voice echoed strongly throughout the uniquely seamless chamber.

Then, in the back of her mind, she felt more than heard the mysteriously strange chuckle that she had began to associate with her link with the Flame as much as the bright and comfortable warmth which spread through her body. As her consciousness sank slowly into the flickering depths of the Flame, she gently began sketching out the details of her request. Who she wanted to find. Where he was likely to be located. What the cause behind her quest was. And many other questions helped to fine-tune and further focus the probing spark that was her consciousness in the Realm of the Flames.

After some time searching she eventually found the brilliant scarlet essence that she associated with Shima riding on the muted, dull brown and gold essence that was the charger he rode on Earth. All in all, she was quite happy with finding him so quickly, but something didn't seem quite right. She couldn't exactly put her finger on it, so she focused her mind on it instead. The something off became immediately apparent as soon as she allowed her attention to back slightly away from Shima and became aware of the surrounding. Suddenly she knew that he was in battle and that he had a companion. He was uninjured, so the battle didn't bother her nearly as much as his companion on the brown and gold steed. 

The other essence was a veritable bonfire of scarlet traced with gold flickers. At first, the extreme similarities between the stranger and her brother made her think that it was possible that the odd one with him was his soul mate, then she looked closer and noticed the thin piece of crimson thread that ran from the center of his soul to somewhere high above him and smiled slightly. Then she began a more in depth search of the unusual essence with him. She was quite startled to realize that it wasn't another soldier on the steed's back with Shima as she had originally thought, but instead carried the distinct traces of lighter shades within the essence that declared in no uncertain terms that the owner of the essence was of the feminine variety. 

Suddenly, the bonfire girl disappeared from Shima's steed to soar across the battlefield towards a rather nasty looking sickly green and yellow aura a good fifty to seventy-five Terran feet away. As Reiki watched, she was certain that the girl would fall far short. But most startlingly, the girl's essence abruptly flared with a powerful influx of the Lord Phoenix's energies! 

The girl cleared the distance between Shima and the sick aura easily, in fact, with distance to spare. As her essence landed on the sick aura, the sick aura suddenly began to flicker then faded away. Even as Reiki watched, Shima rode over and the girl appeared back behind him, the touch of Lord Phoenix's energies completely omitted from the essence again. 

Reiki wondered about the strange girl for sometime, but ever time her consciousness tried to fix upon the surge of Phoenix Force, she heard, felt, whatever, that strange and mysterious chuckle in the back of her mind. Which made her thoughts tend to want to avoid that particular avenue of reasoning after a time.

Not long after, Reiki finally decided it was time to stop and withdrew from the fire and began the long ritual to finish a "reading" as Shima called it.

**********

Reiki tried to think about the girl some more as she headed back to her chambers wearily. But her mind just didn't want to focus. It kept straying off on wild jaunts to hither and yon. 

Finally, she decided, as she hauled herself into her room and prepared for bed, that she would just wait and see if the girl came back with Shima to the Lunar Realm. If she did, then she could ask the girl herself about the brief influx of energies. And beside, Reiki thought climbing exhaustedly into bed, she could always be nice to the poor soul and maybe end up with another friend out of it.

It was a shame that she only remembered her decision to try and make a new friend after she woke up the next morning. 

**********

Reiki stood silently on the balcony that overlooked the gardens in a strangely pensive mood. Shima had been very upset about something for the past week and he was still refusing to come and talk to her about it. Which was, quite understandably, driving her nuts. 

She knew that he had talked with all of the other girls, with the possible exception of Akai. But then, who really ever went to Akai when they wanted to be cheered up? To be honest with herself, Reiki could only see Shima going to deliberately see Akai when he was looking for some serious abuse. That girl had a definite anger problem. Which, for whatever reason, Shima generally chose to ignore or displace. 

She had to admit that Shima had some kind of way with the fiery Mercurian that behaved much more like a native born Martian instead of one of the cool and collected Mercurians. No one had really ever bothered to get close enough to find out what made her tick. The only thing anyone really knew was that she utterly despised boys. And no one actually knew why that was, with the possible exception of her twin sister Amilia, and she certainly wasn't talking. 

Reiki sighed and slumped slightly to lean on the railing with her forearms. She wanted to help. She really did. She just didn't add up like the other girls did. All she was, was the little sister of the great and wonderful Phoenix Prince. Who cared that he was once a rather gawky boy that no one really liked too much? Who bothered to remember his fascination with books and dusty old tomes that drove their father to distraction on more than one occasion? No one, that's who. No one, except Reiki. 

She knew. She remembered. It wasn't like she could help it. All of her memories, as far back as she could remember, involved Shima in some way. Her dim memories of life as a babe in arms, she was looking up into the smiling face of Shima. Her mother had died shortly after her birth, and her father nearly openly rejected her just because she was a girl, and not considered "worthy" of his praise or attention. So Shima had filled in. He had been the father that she could hardly remember. He had filled the shoes of their dearly departed mother awkwardly, but much more skillfully than the evil witch that had crowded into their lives with their father's court marriage. 

Her face screwed up in wry disgust at that thought. She really shouldn't have let her mind wander towards their step-mother and that odious little child of hers. Ugh. To think that a member of the Royal Martian Family would stoop so low as to actually wed one of the petty queens of the Lower Earthian Kingdoms was bad enough. But why couldn't their father at least had the decency and good taste to choose anyone BUT Morriganna of the Fire Kingdom! That woman put the bad into bad taste! And that boy of hers! Zoicite? What kind of name was that? Wasn't it some kind of nasty rock or something? It suited that ugly whelp to a T. 

She slowly regained her temper with the thought that Zoicite had been reclaimed to Earth to serve and obey the High Kingdom. Which was not a task that the young pest had been any too thrilled about. Nor had his mother. She kept trying to claim that he was the 'proper heir to Mars' and as such could not possibly be reclaimed by Earth. As if! Zoicite would never, could never, be the 'proper heir to Mars' even if there was such a thing! Even if he could, he never was fit enough to sit the War Throne, despite the fact that he was three months older than Shima. 

Reiki managed a low chuckle at that thought. The War Throne was the literal and metaphorical icon of the Martian way of life. It was a physical struggle to even rest upon the Throne momentarily, something which, Reiki was proud to say, she had managed on her thirteenth birthday, thus winning back the Heirship left vacant with the calling of her brother to the Phoenix's side. As Amilia had once commented, the kingdom names came from the Old Tongue after all. 

Mars meant, literally, War. A martian was a warrior in the Old Tongue. Just as jovian was creator and mercurian was a scholar. The center of the Realms was where it was because Lunar meant Royalty. Which was why they existed in the Lunar Realms. 

Reiki hadn't exactly expected it, but she was suddenly broken from her silent reverie by a very familiar tread on the flags of the balcony where she resided. She spun around in a suddenly much better mood, only to get worried all over again when she saw the disconsolate look on his face.

"Oniisan?" she whispered, reaching out towards him.

**********

It had been fun to run about with Shima on the balcony. It was as if they were kids all over again, without all the worries and hardships they faced on a day to day basis. 

She nestled herself more snugly into his arms as the massive wings of flame that were required to carry Shima and her weight, even with the relatively low gravity of the Lunar landscape, flickered and flashed as they cut their fiery swaths through the crisp air. It was warm in her brother's arms, with the fiery essence that was a quintessential part of him seeping through to help regulate their body temperatures in the cool of the night air. 

She drifted off to sleep as he tucked her into her bed and brushed the raven hairs from her brow with a gentle palm. As she did, she briefly thought upon the fact that Akai was a very lucky girl.


	16. Cognition

Chapter 16 __

Chapter Two: Cognition – Akai

'That... that... insufferable BOY!' a mildly enraged Akai thought to herself as she sat on a bench in a grotto that would have been like any other, except for one simple fact. This was the grotto where He had kidnapped her sister!

'How _dare_ he be such a ... a...' 

'**_charming gentleman?'_**

'A charming gentleman?! Wait a second...'

**_'come on, admit it! He's a charming gentleman! He didn't have to ask you out on a date.'_**

'This is _not_ a _date_!'

'**_Right. And tomorrow you're going to be proclaimed Queen Galaxia's heiress. Give it up, you like him!'_**

'I do _not_!'

**_'Okay. Then explain what you're doing out here waiting for him in the grotto where he told you to wait wearing _that_ of all things?'_**

That was a beautiful Jovian styled dress made from a positively delicious silver fabric drenched in liquid sapphires. It molded to her body heat, thanks to the sapphires. Which meant that absolutely no visible straps or buttons or even ties could be seen on the sheath-like dress that ran from the tops of her breasts down to her ankles, with a long slit up the entire length of the skirt from hip to ankle to allow for a natural stride to be affected. A strip of the same material of the dress curved itself around her throat to serve as a choker and light slippers adorned her feet.

'So I like dressing up! It's not like I can most of the time... that doesn't mean I like _him_!'

**_'Fine. Okay. You don't like him. Then why don't you explain why you accepted his invitation in the first place then.'_**

'...'

'See! I was right! You do_ like him!'_

"I do _not_!" Akai finally yelled, hopping to her feet in her indignation.

"You know, I did hope that we had managed to get past that stage earlier." A deep, ironic voice came from the area of the path into the grotto. 

Shima stepped fully into the light with an appreciative look on his rugged features. A long black cloak draped itself over his brilliantly scarlet tunic and gold hose. Martian royal colors, but also the colors most associated with the Phoenix he served. Knee-high leather boots covered his legs. Brightly polished gold shields upon his knees finished the off the mirror-polished black boots. His intricately wrought gold and steel bracers graced his forearms and his wild black hair was held back with an inimitable silver and gold band that combined the simplicity of a circlet with the regality of a crown. Upon his breast the crest of his lord was embroidered with gold thread. His infamous sword hung, as always, upon his left hip in its special sheath. His long qui draped once down over his right shoulder than back up over his left in one long loop. 

As he finally emerged fully into the dim earthlight, he bowed deeply and gracefully to his royal date. 

"You look lovely, Akai-chan." His voice was slightly husky as he gently brushed the back of her hand with his lips before straightening. 

Akai was silent, both in thought and in word. In matching silence, Shima held out his arms in open invitation. As she stepped into his embrace with more than a little trepidation, his powerful arms closed about her again. She gasped slightly with the sudden onrush of emotion that she had before only thought of as a once in a lifetime experience. The only other time she had felt quite as she did was when the same muscular arms caught her sudden plummet as now wrapped her in a gentle, but secure embrace. 

As the pair rose into the sky on the broad wings of flame that sprouted from Shima's back at his command, Akai realized that she felt completely and utterly safe and secure. In fact, she would put the feeling of safety that she now felt against any other feeling that she had ever felt. During the entire time it took to reach the small restaurant that was their destination, she never once doubted that Shima would never allow her to fall from his genial embrace.

**********

The food was decent and the music was amenable, but the real highlight of the evening as far as Akai thought was the easy conversation. For some reason that she could not readily explain, there in that small out of the way restaurant where no one knew who they were or any of their past, they were able to start over again from the beginning. Suddenly, their unfortunate meeting no longer existed. The fierce arguments were no more important to them then the doings of the castle maids' random catfights, and seemed just as trivial at that moment. 

To Akai's complete and utter surprise, she discovered that Shima and herself actually had quite a bit in common. Besides the fact that they were both generally feared across the Realm, that is. Akai learned of Shima's life as a young Prince of Mars who wanted nothing more to be allowed to study his books instead of fight. Shima unearthed Akai's life on Mercury as a wild young firebrand of a warrioress instead of the calm and demure Princess of Mercury that she was supposed to be. It was as if they had been switched at birth.

As the night wore on and the stars slowly faded from the night, the pair talked and laughed like old friends. Instead of soaring back on the night winds, the duo walked back to their respective homes in the castle still deep in either conversation or contemplation. Akai found herself actually enjoying herself in a manner which she had never expected when she had accepted Shima's invitation. Shima, for his part, was slowly falling into a deeper and deeper contemplation as he found himself thinking of the younger girl in a manner that was rapidly beginning to disturb his restful state of mind. 

A light giggle alerted him to the presence of another young girl, though he ignored the intrusion and just continued on their walk without comment to the hidden Minanoai. Akai too noticed that Minanoai was hiding near them, but as Shima was obviously ignoring her, she, for once, followed his example and kept walking. 

When a cold breeze blew across her bare shoulders and caused her to shiver, she started slightly as a fold of Shima's cloak and his muscular arm suddenly wrapped themselves around her and tugged her closer to him. She darted a glance upwards to his face to see if he was teasing her, but saw only contemplation written there. With a slightly shocked smile on her face, she realized that he was completely unaware of his actions. But she didn't push him away, so his arm and cloak remained around her until they reached her door and he bid her good night in the early hours of the morning. 

**********

Akai hissed as she smashed another brick into oblivion. She simply could not, would not, accept that that crude excuse for an Earthian Diplomat had actually said _that_ to _her_ of all people! She didn't really know what was worse. The fact that it had been said, or the fact that Shima had been standing not even five feet away and hadn't reacted at _all_! She screamed in muted rage as she destroyed another set of bricks. 

She didn't know how to react with Shima. One moment, he was nice and sweet, the next, cold and distant. It was enough to drive a poor girl mad! And then their was that girl of his! That wild child! 

As if it wasn't bad enough that she had to follow Shima around all the time, she was constantly _flinging _herself at the younger members of the staffs. And they weren't even royalty! She was going around flirting with the _servants_! She had Shima, what else could she possibly want?

'**_Akai-chan, you are jealous.'_** Came the voice of discontent which sounded so suspiciously like Shima.

'I am not!' came the automatic argument in response.

**_'Why bother arguing? You know you're jealous, otherwise you wouldn't be so out and out right furious at that poor girl.'_**

'You don't have to watch her throwing herself at everyone else then going home with Shima!'

**_'And why do you even care what she does or doesn't do? Hmm?'_**

'Shima is my _friend_! I don't want to see him hurt!'

**_'And why do you think she'll hurt Shima?'_**

'Because... cause... Because she goes flirting with everyone and then he just takes her home with him!'

**_'Did you ever think that maybe he doesn't care?'_**

"Why wouldn't he care??"

Dead silence came in reply as she realized that she had spoken aloud again. She turned towards the door with a slow sort of dread, a rather mortified expression on her face. Sure enough, Shima was standing there in the doorway apparently heading in to do some practicing, judging by his clothing. His face was curiously blank as she turned towards him, then when she finally faced him completely, one of his uniquely feathery eyebrows rose curiously.

He stepped towards her from the doorway, casually glancing around at the destruction surrounding them. His torso was bare except for his bracers and his legs were encased in his black velvet pants. His black sash was wrapped securely around his waist and his feet rested securely in his black slippers. His qui was wrapped about his neck multiple times. Finally he stopped before her and looked her over. 

She wore a simple Martian sparring tunic and hose in white. Or at least he assumed it was white as all he could really see was the white dust covering her. White slippers incased her feet and a simple band tied her hair back out of her eyes. 

"Talking to yourself again, I see." He spoke suddenly, breaking the rather awkward silence that had fallen between them. He paused for a moment, allowing her to fume, before continuing. "I thought you'd be in here. I wanted to talk to you."

"So that's why you're in here. I'd never seen you practicing in here before." Akai, with great effort, slowly allowed her anger to fade away into the air around them.

"That's because I don't. I practice in my room."

"So why are you here now?"

"It was a good excuse." He shrugged. "I don't know. Like I said, I wanted to talk to you."

"So why didn't you just go to my rooms?"

His brows drew together in frustration. "Because I didn't want anyone to know I was talking to you!"

"Why not?! Is there something wrong with me that you can't talk to me?!" Akai snarled right back, her all too familiar anger beginning to surge up within her again.

"No!" His hand chopped downwards in a negative gesture. 

"Then why?!"

"Because if anyone finds out that we're friends something bad could happen!" 

"So, it's a bad thing that we're friends is it! I see now!"

"Will you just shut up for a moment and let me talk, dammit!?"

Akai suddenly fell silent in shock.

"Thank you." He slumped against a nearby pillar and let out a heartfelt sigh. "Listen, Akai, we're friends. You know. I know. And at least, Minanoai does, but the other girls might know too. They don't care. Ok?"

She nodded slightly. 

"Well, guess what, not everyone thinks like them. In fact, it's much more likely that they'd hate and fear us even more than they already do if they thought we were actually friends and not fighting all the time."

"Why?"

"Think about, Akai. We're both strong and fast and have very infamous tempers. Either one of us might blow up at someone at anytime. The thing is, it's very unlikely that _both_ of us would blow up at the same person at the same time! That's because we are seen as being so busy fighting with each other that we don't see what's going on around us. Ok so far?"

She nodded again, concentration furrowing her brow.

"Ok. Well, I noticed that not to long after our dinner people were acting more and more nervous around us. I put two and two together and got five in this case. While both of _us_ noticed that we were much, _much_ calmer since becoming friends, everyone else was under the impression that we were on the verge of becoming even more violent and our apparent truce was scaring the hell out of them. Ok?"

Again the nod.

"Which is why I picked that fight with you not to long after. By fighting, we put people back at ease. They stopped being so careful around us. Which is what we not only want, but need if we're to be effective guards of the Realms."

"So, you're saying that this way we can watch everyone, right?"

"Right. But we _must_ keep up the illusion of us being at war with each other if we want it to work. Which is what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Huh? I don't understand." Akai looked puzzled, but the information was getting through.

"I've noticed that you have a very strict style of fighting. It's all by the book."

"What do you expect?! I learned from books!"

"I know. I was just going to offer to help you get past that, but if you don't want to..." he trailed off.

"Of course I want to get past that!" she interjected stridently.

"Well, then, that's what we'll do. First, no more blocks."

"What?!"

"They're impairing your growth. You'll spar with me in here at _least_ once a week. And during our fights out on the plains." He suddenly grinned at her startled expression. "Just wait! We'll make a warrior of you yet!"

**********

"What am I going to do?" Akai softly whispered to herself as she sat on the edge of her bed in the rooms she shared with her sister. 

Amilia came in and sat down next to her. "What is wrong, Akai-chan?"

Akai looked over to her sister with eyes swollen and red from tears. "Ami-chan?"

"Oh, Akai..." Amilia whispered as she wrapped her arms around the sobbing girl. 

"I don't know what to do, Ami..."

"It is alright, Akai. Just tell me what is wrong...."

"Shima-san..." was all that a curious Amilia could make out from the muffled sobs that emerged from her whimpering sibling. 

"Shima-san? What could Shima-san have done to put you in such a state, Akai?" Amilia asked, reaching down to raise her slightly younger sister's face up. Akai just stared at her with a the face of a heartbroken child. "Oh my, Akai. You haven't hurt him with your tirades have you?!" she gasped.

Akai shook her head furiously. "No! I would never, never hurt him if I could help it!"

"Then what is it?!"

"I... I... Oh, Ami, I'm afraid!"

"Afraid? Of Shima-san?" Amilia was puzzled by this sudden turn of events.

"Not of Shima-san so much as... as... Ami, sometimes I feel.. I feel so .. so.. so _lost_ when he's not here! And I don't know why!"

Amilia smiled slightly as a sudden insight of what could possibly be wrong with her twin sister dawned upon her. "I see. Akai? Why don't you just tell him that you love him?"

"Love him!?" Akai cried scrambling backwards away from her sister. "I-I don't ... don't..." her voice died away as she slowly turned away to stare down at the ground again. "Love him? Do I? I don't know. Oh, Ami, I'm so confused."

"Akai. I can only tell you what I know. And I know that despite all of your many arguments and squabbles about whatever little thing may strike you, Shima-san does care about you in his own way." Amilia smiled reassuringly at Akai. "Maybe no one thinks that I'm much use around her with my nose always in a book, but I pay attention. I watch and I learn what's going on by how people react to things."

Akai nodded slowly as if to agree.

"Do you remember the accident some time back? You know, the one out in Kethrow Hall across the Sea of Serenity?"

Again, Akai nodded, though an expression of puzzlement was growing steadily upon her features.

"Well, you wouldn't have known, since you were the one stuck under all that rock, but Shima was there. He just showed up in a gout of flames right on the edge of the collapse bellowing for you." Amilia smiled in recollection. "He had teleported himself all the way, despite how much energy it cost him to do that. Then he personally lead the team that ended up extracting you. And you know why he did all that?" 

Akai shook her head, confused. 

"He did that all because he heard that you had been at the Hall when it collapsed. He was worried about you."

"He.. he would have done that for any of the girls. It couldn't have been just me. Kina and Minanoai were there too."

"Yes. Kina was there and so was Minanoai. I was there too, though I didn't get caught in the collapse, if you will remember. But, I was able to watch him. It was you he was calling for when he showed up. And Kina and Minanoai were carried out by the other men on the team, but he insisted on carrying you out by himself, despite his obvious exhaustion. So, Akai, I would say that Shima-san does care for you in some way."

Akai's eyes once again shimmered with tears as she threw her arms around her sister and hugged her with every ounce of strength available to her. Which left Amilia very squashed feeling but happy for her sister. 

"I'm going to find him! I'm going to find him and talk to him, I swear!" Akai shouted as she leapt from the bed and raced for the door. At the door she paused and glanced back over her shoulder with a twinkle in her eye that had been missing for sometime. "And Ami? You did miss one thing. Our fights? They're not real. They haven't been for a long time." Then she was gone out the door, leaving a very confused Amilia behind.


	17. Recognition

Chapter 17 __

Chapter Three: Recognition – Ranko

It had been nearly three years now. A long period of time for such a small child. Not that she knew that it had been over two years. No. She was, after all, only 12 years old. And she had been without human companionship during those years. But still, it had been a long time, and that she was aware of. 

She knew that she had lost her parents, her older sister, and her little brother during a time of great confusion before she was alone. She knew that as well as she knew her freckled features and mangy reddish mane from her reflection in the lake's waters. 

She had gone back. To the place where she had last seen her family. She had even found them once more. But they didn't want her. No. They didn't want her at all. They had just laid there on the ground and refused to get up and come with her or take her home. They had just laid there and been cold to her. Then, when she came back sometime later, they were gone. They had left her behind.

But that was alright. She didn't need them anymore. She knew how to take care of herself. The animals helped her from time to time. So she had forgotten her name a long time ago? She didn't need a name. She didn't need anything.

But that didn't mean that she didn't want for things. That she didn't sometimes cast her hopes and dreams into the skies to ride on the tails of the falling stars in her strange pidgin tongue. That she didn't wish for things.

Because she did. She wished she had a home and a family that still loved her. That wouldn't leave her like her family had. 

She wished she had a name. It didn't have to be anything fancy, but it would be nice to have a name. Some way to tell who she was apart from anything and anyone else in the whole world.

But most of all, she was lonely. She was human, after all. And humans are, by nature, sociable creatures, herd animals as it were. And the days got longer and the nights got colder, and she was alone. So terribly alone. 

And she would howl her sorrows into the wind so that they would be carried away to the distant full moon and trouble her no more as the wolf pack did. But she was not a wolf, and the sorrows followed her. She could not leave them behind, and so her nights were oft marked by small dark stains upon the bundled hide pillow which could have been made by tears. Tears, if she wasn't a warrior. And warriors never, ever cry. 

But she was so terribly lonely. And she did wish for a companion. A friend. Someone, anyone, who would be there for her. Someone upon whom she could depend forever and always. Someone to help carry her many sorrows. So she cast that particular wish in every direction.

She just hoped that someday her wish could come true. And so every night, she laid down, after casting her wish, and fell asleep under the velvet skies.

**********

It was approaching the night when she heard them. Horses. She remembered horses. There had been horses in the village. They had pulled things for people. People had ridden them during the great confusion. And, most importantly, she had never heard them in her part of the forest where she was so lonely.

She could only think of one answer to the question posed by the jingling of harness and the quiet rustling and clopping that marked the passage of horses through the underbrush. People had come to her part of the forest! They had come to her! She was not to be lonely anymore! And with a glad cry, she had raced through the trees upon silent feet to where she had heard the horses coming from.

When she arrived, the horses were no longer moving. They had been tied to long sticks thrust into the ground. Their riders clustered about a flickering fire in the center of the clearing. Some others stood around in a big circle, staring out into the night as if searching for something. She wondered what they were looking for, as they didn't seem to be finding it. 

Then the riders had laid down upon the ground and not moved. She supposed they were asleep, and quickly scurried up into a tree so as to find safe resting place for the night. Pulling her hide cloak about her and tucking the rough hood behind her head to serve as a pillow, she drifted off to sleep.

**********

She awoke with the dawn, and the clanking sound of men in armor clambering about. Silently ghosting down the tree, she slipped around to where she could watch better. Surely they were coming to meet her now, she thought with a smile. 

Then they pulled up the long sticks and climbed on the horses and began to ride away! With a frightened expression on her face she had raced down the hill to their caravan. "Muhate! Muhate!" she screamed as she ran.

Many of the riders and some on foot looked back at her but kept on riding. She slowed and finally came to a stop, gazing forlornly at the backs of the riders that had already passed her. They had not meant to be her friends after all.

Then, to her surprise, one rider had slowed his horse to a stop beside her. She looked up in a daze. The horse was a big one, with a reddish coat. And there, on his back, sat the most perfect man she had ever seen. He shone with an inner light and, as he smiled down at her, his dark eyes seemed to burn with a mirror of the fire from last night. 

"Ohayo, Kodomo no Mori." He spoke with a voice that almost commanded reverence from all that heard it. "Do you need a ride, little one?" 

She nodded slowly, hoping beyond hope that this was the friend she had longed for for so long. He reached down a gold encase hand to her, and, as she grasped it, pulled her up behind him on the red stallion. He glanced back over his shoulder with a smile. "Be careful now, Kodomo no Mori. I'm riding to battle. Can you stay on?"

"Hai, Ojisama." She whispered, grateful that he seemed to speak her tongue. 

*********

The battle had been long and difficult, but they had persevered and now their enemies laid defeated before them. She and her new friend rode back slowly, dragging the bandit king's corpse behind the stallion. She had recognized him as the man that had made her family not want her anymore. So she had killed him. Now she had a sword like her Ojisama! She had even given it a name! _Shino Doroboo_! A fine name for a fine sword! True too.

"Oi! Shima-sama! There you are! We were getting worried!"

"Don't worry about me, Deshino Endymion! I had a good luck charm for this battle!"

Shima-sama? Was that his name? Shima? She smiled. It was a good name for her wonderful new friend.

"Oi? Good luck charm? Who, the kid?!"

"So, what's her name, Shima-sama?"

He smiled down at me where he was holding her onto the front of the saddle before him, as the rope holding the corpse was tied where she was last sitting. Then he looked back up at the men in the bloody field. "This? Oh, you should know her! This is my Kodomo no Ran!" 

Everyone laughed at that. Then Endymion himself rode up. 

"It's good to see you safe, Shima-san. And you too, Kodomo no Ran." He looked up to Shima-sama at that. "You know, Shima-san that is truly a mouthful to say time an again. Why not we just call her.. Ranko? It gets the point across as sure as Kodomo no Ran..."

"What do you think of that, Kodomo no Ran? Would you like that to be your name? Ranko?"

She couldn't believe it. All her dreams were coming true! First a friend and now a name! She smiled up at him and nodded happily. "Hai, Shima-sama! I would like that much much!" 

Shima and Endymion laughed, but it was Shima alone whom spoke. "Then that shall be your name! Everyone, I'd like you to meet my guardian angel of the battlefield! Ranko!" 

She drifted off to slumber in the arms of her newfound friend and buoyed on the sound of cheering with a smile on her face.

**********

Ranko flopped happily down onto her cot in Shima's quarters. It had been quite a fun game she had been playing with Akai-sama. Even though it seemed as though Akai-sama had been becoming quite frustrated. But not as frustrated as Shima-sama became whenever he got finished dealing with Akai-sama! She giggled a little at that thought and rolled over to face the wall where she idly traced the outlines of the stones that made up its surface.

And then that cute boy from Earth had asked her out! His name was Marcus and she was quite head over heels at the moment. She rolled back on to her back and spread her arms wide with a happy sigh. Everything was going so much better than it had in the forest! She had a family, and a name, and a home, and, and everything!

Then, abruptly, she swung her feet back over the edge of the cot and sat up. Now, if that annoying pest Kuno Ikari would just leave her alone everything would be solidly in the realm of perfect! She growled in frustration of her own as she thought of that pervert who kept on trying and trying to sleep with her as though she had no self respect. 

She had a distinct feeling that he would have done the same to her friend Akai-sama if she hadn't so obviously outranked him and been deemed completely out of his reach by the head of his clan. She growled again, and her fingers curved into their familiar claw shapes as she thought of the touch of that filthy beast. She swore that if he even dared to try that again she would personally insure that he had no more children!

Then she sighed and leaned back against the wall while staring idly at the door to the Sacred Fire Chamber where Shima was ensconced. Right there, behind that door, she figured was the biggest obstacle in the way of a real friendship with Akai-sama. Shima-sama himself. Akai-sama always seemed so... so mad whenever Ranko talked with other guys when Shima was around. It was almost as if... as if...

Ranko sat bolt upright again with a hastily stifled giggle. Akai-sama couldn't possibly be thinking _that_ now could she?! Ranko flung herself face down into the pillow to muffle her suddenly outrageous laughter. Akai-sama thinking that Ranko and... and Shima-sama! She couldn't help laughing!

Slowly she sat up and wiped away the tears that had trickled down her face as she ran out of laughter. But if that was the problem between her and Akai-sama it could surely be remedied. All she had to do was explain her relationship with Shima to the older girl. Beside, Shima wasn't _that_ way as far as Ranko knew!

Still... Akai-sama thinking something like _that_! 

Ranko's pillow soon found itself home to another round of giggle fits.

**********

Ranko raced head-long through the thick underbrush on feet that long remembered the way to move silently through even the thickest growth with speed that resulted from terror and panic. She was being chased. Through the forests that had so long been her home before Shima-sama had come to them. It was betrayal of the ultimate to the yet youthful girl.

She had traveled down to the Earthian forest as a messenger to the Amazonian tribes that filled these tangled areas. She had come on behalf of Shima-sama and Akai-sama. She had come bearing tidings of the coming nuptials between her most beloved of friends. She had come with good tidings and bearing gifts to the friendly warrior women. 

She had been followed. 

It was a the second village on her route that she had been warned. A young mother still bearing her darling little girl, Kuh-long, her arms had been the bearer of ill tidings. As Ranko had leaned over the pretty babe and made the proper exclamations of wonderment at the tiny life, the young mother had whispered her news into the girl's ear. 

"You are being followed, little one."

Ranko had looked up with a smile on her face, but confusion in her eyes.

"There is a strange man always behind you as you travel. The young warriors have been following him for sometime now, guarding you as you travel." The woman paused to smile at some small comment Ranko had made about her child before continuing. "However, this man bears a steel blade and we have only enough steel to guard the village from the Musk now. The girls are armed only in bone, wood, stone, and glass and I must say that I fear for my comrades. We have not long been at war. I hope nothing evil comes from your follower."

And that, as they say, had been that. Ranko had bid her farewells and continue as she knew she must. She was aware of her tail by this time and began taking efforts to lose him. But it was far naught.

He had attacked halfway between the village where tiny Kuh-long slept and the newest of villages at Joketsu. The brave Amazon warriors had fought valiantly and died quickly with honor before the mad man's fierce onslaught. Their deaths had not been for nothing though. Ranko had used the time afforded by their brave, if foolish, struggle to vanish into the undergrowth to the side of the trail. 

She had been running for several hours now. Plunging ever deeper into the darkness of the twisted maze the forest provided. She knew who it was that followed her now. It was the same, deadly fool that had been stalking her since the day Shima first introduced her properly to her Majesty, the Queen Serenity V, in court. Kuno Ikari had never learned to take no for an answer, despite the beating frequently imposed upon his person by her friends and herself. 

Now he had dived far off the cliffs of reason into the ocean of dementia. He had actually bared steel against the named ward of the Phoenix Prince. His life was completely and utterly forfeit if Ranko ever emerged from these woods, and he knew it. 

She knew she would not leave these woods alive, and yet she also knew that if she allowed Kuno Ikari to catch her she would suffer a fate far, far worse then any possible death. She saw but one last answer.

Pools were all that remained of the once great lake that she had lived near all those years ago. And that was where she was headed. She knew that the pools were deep, very, very deep. She had often dived into them during trips back to the area with Shima and the girls as they had trained above her on the long poles Shima had sank into the earth. They were her last hope to escape Kuno Ikari and his sword. Both of his swords, metal and otherwise.

At long last she burst into the clearing that held the pools with the last of her flagging energy. It had been a long time since she had found need to run that fast or that far. She staggered through the maze of pools until she reached the center.

It was there she stood, pulling every ounce of ki that Shima had taught her to harness to her, when Kuno Ikari burst into the clearing his eyes mad with his dementia and his sword upraised. His formal Royal Earthian garb was tattered and torn, and blood ran from many injuries, yet he bore on after her with teeth bared in a snarling grimace.

"Stop." Her voice, quiet though it was, bore the same commanding power that she had once recognized in Shima long before. Kuno Ikari staggered slowly to a halt, the madness slowly taking second place to confusion. She looked up and met his gaze and he recoiled bodily from those glowing white orbs that energy fair crackled from.

"Oh, stranger, tread lightly." She whispered, the sound rolling over and about the clearing, growing in strength, growing in power. "'Tis holy ground here. In Death's cold embrace, the Soldier sleepth here. On the red field of battle our brave Comrade died, and his last smile I caught as I knelt by his side."

The power growing in the clearing cracked and sparked across the pools. Ranko merely continued on her way, slowly striding forward towards one of the deepest ponds, knowing she was beyond exhaustion.

"Oh his lips they were smiling, he feared not to die, and his ear caught the shout as it rose to the sky. For 'Victory is ours!' his comrades cried. 'Thank god.' Said the Soldier and, smiling, he died."

Her foot touched the surface of the pond but failed to sink. Instead, she tread upon the water itself.

"Sleep well, my young Soldier, and soft shall be our tread upon this holy ground where lies the noble dead. And you who are listening, may you look upon this grave, and be proud, of your brother Soldier brave."

She slowly strode ever further towards the center, never flagging in either speech or stride.

"May God help his mother, her sadness to bear. May God help the Widow, of he who lies here. May he help the Orphans, their little hearts grieve, who no more shall a fond father's kiss receive. And stranger tread lightly, 'tis holy ground here. In Death's cold embrace, the Soldier sleepth there. 'Tis the grave of the hero neath the grass covered sod. His spirit's in Heaven, at home with his God."

She now stood in the center of the pond and simply stood there as the power snapping and crackling about her rose to new heights.

"Sleep well, my young Soldier, and soft shall be our tread upon all this holy ground where lies the noble dead. And you who are listening, may you look upon this grave and be proud of your brother Soldier brave."

With the sounding of the last word, Ranko sank down far beneath the sill surface of the pool. She didn't even attempt to grasp at the long pole that protruded from the water beside her. She simply sank deeper and deeper until she was no longer within sight through the clear waters. 

Then suddenly the clearing exploded in light and power as the energies that had been building throughout the clearing suddenly found themselves released from what had previously bound them. When the light finally cleared, Kuno Ikari was no more. Where once had stood the most insane man of the Realms, who had so many illegitimate and legitimate progeny scattered about the 10 Kingdoms that some referred to him as the Evil Father, now was a small dumpy man in a ragged old robe and hat crouched. 

"I.. I am... I am the Guide.." he muttered dimly as he set about gathering supplies to construct a new home for himself within the clearing. 

Many years later, the Guide would meet with one who was his many, many times over great-grandson. But that would not be for a great while.

For now, Shima's sole companion outside of the Senshi and his new wife, Akai, had drowned herself in a pool that she had once played in so carefreely. And in her desperate action made to escape a deranged man, she had cursed the entire clearing. Now the pools held within them the image of the form that had drowned within them for all eternity until that image was released by a living creature falling within it without drowning. 

__


	18. Warrior

Part Six: Personifications __

Part Six: Personifications

Chapter One: Warrior – Kina

__

Princess Kina of Jupiter, her face flushed with a mixed kind of embarrassment and excitement, scurried down the darkened jade hallway to her chambers. She had just finished meeting the famous Prince Shima of The Lord Phoenix, and now she was headed off to write it all down in her journal. It wasn't every day that a person got to meet the chosen Champion of the Lord Phoenix, one of the few remaining elemental forces in the Realms, after all! 

She giggled softly to herself as she hurried down the hall. She hadn't just been introduced to him, she had also discovered that he was the same older brother named Shima that Reiki-chan had been going on about for so long. One of her dearest friends, the sister of the Phoenix Prince! Kina sighed dreamily at the thought of how close they seemed. 

And his skills! He was so far beyond them in pure fighting ability. And that shield! He had thrown it up so effortlessly! No fancy song and dance like what the Senshi had to deal with in order to summon their powers. Just the words, and BANG! A flaming wall just appeared between him and Reiki and the attacks!

It was awe-inspiring to see that. Hades, HE was awe-inspiring just standing still! Those muscles, that confidence! Wow. And so gallant too! 

Kina slipped through the large oaken doors into her chambers. Flopping down on her bed, she fished out her journal from its hiding place. Rolling over onto her stomach, she flipped it open and snatched her quill and ink from the nightstand. 

__Dear Diary_ she wrote._

_Today the most remarkable thing happened, and I'm not making it up either! Come on.. Guess! 

_What? You don't know? Alright then, I'll tell you.

_I met with perfection today. Hey! It's true! Shima of the Phoenix Prince is simply... perfect. 

That's right, I met with the chosen Champion of the Lord Phoenix today. And get this! He told me to cheer up and smile! 

_He said that if I cheered up I, and I quote, "shall brighten the world"! He told me that! Can you believe it? He tried to cheer me up. Even after I nearly fried him and Reiki-chan with a thunderbolt, too.

_It's not like I don't have a right to be sad. Cause I do! Mother and Father have been gone so long now that there are all kinds of rumors going about that they shall never return. I miss them. I really do.

_I'm getting pretty tired though. And I have a training session with Miechale of the Jovian Knights tomorrow so I'd better get my rest while I can, don't you think? Well, I guess I'll see you later! 'Nite.

Kina of Jupiter.

**********

"Yaaaahh!" Kina screamed as she hurtled through the air to slam painfully into the mats with a loud exhalation. 

Sir Miechale loomed over her suddenly, glaring down at her. "Are you ready to give up yet, girl-child?" he growled in his dark baritone. 

Kina struggled to her feet at that, her face red with embarrassment as well as a mixture of frustration, exhaustion and pain. "I can still go on, Sir Miechale. Please," she paused to catch her breath. "Continue the lesson, good knight." And then she settled into an awkward training stance awaiting his attack.

Sir Miechale shrugged and stalked off to the middle of the mat again. He just stood there and looked at her. "Well? Do you intend to attack me, or just stand there?" he asked with a nonchalant air as if he were asking about the weather instead of teaching a lesson on unarmed combat to a member of the Senshi. 

Kina rushed forward with a wild cry, her fist before her as if it were dragging her towards him. At the last second, he stepped to the side with a smirk, allowing her to fly past him off balance and unguarded. One second later she was flying through the air again and slamming hard into the mats again. 

This time Sir Miechale didn't even bother to go over and ask if the lesson was completed. He simply snorted in disgust and strode out of the room wrapped in an aura of his own self-importance at being able to beat an untrained young woman that had asked him to teach her. Sir Miechale was a very proud man after all and didn't take well to being defeated for any reason, or lowering himself for any reason. Even if that reason is the training of the most powerful warrioress and his Princess of his planet in the arts of control in battle. 

Kina lay there for a while, just watching him stride from the room with a wistful look in her eye. Then suddenly there was another form blocking her view. Turning her head slightly, she noticed that the legendary Phoenix Prince was crouching beside her with a hand roughened from years of swordwork thrust out towards her. Returning to her senses, she grasped his hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet. As she stood there, she could feel him gently brushing the training room's dust from the back of her training robe. 

"You okay, Kina-chan?" he murmured as he worked. 

She nodded at first, then slowly found her voice. "I'll be fine, Shima." She informed him as she continued to stare down the corridor that had swallowed up her quickly departed 'trainer'.

Shima noticed the direction of her gaze. "Why are you staring at him like that, Kina?"

"Because he's so good and handsome, and I can never even hope to be that good." She sighed in reply.

"He's not that good. Why do you think you couldn't be at least as good as him, if not even better?" 

"I can't learn. He's so fast and good, that I can never hope to learn."

"Well, first off, he's an awful person. I mean, anyone with a shred of decency in him would have helped anyone as pretty as you up. Especially if he was the reason you were on the floor. Second, he's not a particularly good fighter and he's an even worse teacher. You can learn, Kina. I've seen you pick up things so fast, it makes my head boggle. He just doesn't want to take the time to teach you." He growled, still glaring down the hall. 

"But he's the only one willing to teach me, Shima!" Kina looked like she was about to cry.

"No. I'll teach you, Kina-chan." He tossed back over his shoulder, not even bothering to look back as he spoke.

"Y-y-you'll teach me? B-but you're the Phoenix Prince, Shima!" That got his attention. He immediately spun about and stared at her.

"That doesn't matter! You're my friend, Kina. And I _won't_ let you down."

"You're my friend? I don't have many friends. Only the girls. You're the first boy I've ever been friends with. Hmm. Does that make you my boyfriend?" she wondered quietly.

Shima smirked. "I guess, Kina. I guess." Then he turned back to the corridor. "Now, if you'll excuse me for a moment, I recently discovered a very urgent matter that needs tending to. So, with your permission?" His angry snarl was barely masked by the sheen of courtly politeness over the top. 

Kina nodded once, shyly, and Shima was gone down the corridor his stride filled with his furious purpose. Curious as to what was about to happen, Kina snuck quietly after him.

**********

Shima caught up with Sir Miechale only two minutes after leaving Kina. The fact that he had caught up with the Jovian Knight in the very crowded throne room in front of Queen Serenity V herself didn't seem to bother him in the slightest. Shima was on a most holy of missions. Defending the honor of a maiden. 

"Miechale!" Shima roared across the bustle directly at the armored back of the still departing knight. 

His voice echoed and rebounded in the sudden silence that had fell over the gathered courtiers. The knight stopped abruptly in the center of the room at the shout, suddenly finding himself alone as everyone had crowded back towards the walls. The center of the room had cleared as quickly as possible when Shima had entered with the snarl of fury distorting his normally handsome features.

"My _name_, FOOL, is SIR Miechale of the Jovian Knights!" The arrogant idiot replied as he turned about slowly, just in time to see what a stupid mistake he had just made. 

Shima crossed the intervening distance in four great strides. Then he lifted the offending knight off his feet by crushing a handful of his breastplate in one hand and hurled him across the room to crash into a far pillar and fall to the ground in a great clatter. Shima crossed the room and lifted him again, this time slamming him into the nearest surface with enough force to cause the solid marble pillar to crack. Blood begin to smear across the white pillar before Shima finally stopped and simply held him there. 

Then Shima leaned in and got up in his face. "Miechale of Jupiter. Do you know who I am?" he asked with a dangerously icy calm in his voice. It carried easily throughout the room. 

Miechale looked blearily into his eyes. "Y-y-you S-s-shima... Phoenix Prince..." he mumbled. 

"That's right, Miechale." Shima continued in the same almost conversational tone. "I am the Phoenix Prince. I will address you as I see fit. AND I see no reason to accord you a place in the honorable Jovian Knights." Shima pointed out. "You, dog. Are completely without honor and hold no place in the Jovian Knights as far as I am concerned."

Shima suddenly turned his attention from the bleeding idiot in his hands to the court at large and Queen Serenity V, perhaps in particular to the Knight Commander of the Jovian Knights who had recently come to the Lunar Palace to attain the Queen's Blessing for his new born daughter.

"You see, everyone, I just got to watch this filthy dog-man man-handle Princess Kina of Jupiter under the pretence of training her in the arts of combat and control." Shima explained. "Then at the end, he hurled her to the ground like some cast-off piece of clothing and walked away in disgust. Disgust, everyone! This filthy dog-man who _dared_ to call himself a Jovian Knight _beat_ his Princess and then saw only contempt in her untrained efforts! He refused even to offer her a hand in assistance to regain her feet after having knocked her from them to begin with! This filthy dog-man has no honor, no decency, and shall NEVER have respect from myself or ANY who follow my Lord Phoenix!" He glared at Miechale who had by now fainted dead away and hung limp in Shima's grasp.

"Now, I would like to mention that the Inner Senshi are personal friends of mine." Shima had gone back to that conversational tone that caused so many courtiers to wish they were elsewhere at the moment. "And being my friends, they have the right to call on my assistance at any time. Also, one of them, the Senshi of Mars, is bound to me by blood. So, I would like to inform everyone gathered here that an attack upon the Inner Senshi, ANY of the Inner Senshi in ANY way, shall be seen and treated as an attack upon MYSELF and my Lord Phoenix. I do hope that I have made myself quite clear upon the matter."

Then suddenly, he opened his hand and allowed Miechale to fall to the ground in a loud heap. Crouching down, he wiped his hand on Miechale's cloak as if to remove all traces of any possible scum that might have remained from touching him. Then he stood, turned and strode to the center of the room where he looked upon the Queen and bowed deeply to her.

"My deepest apologies that you had to be witness to that sight, your Majesty. Rest assured that such anger shall not be directed towards you, for thy child is among those I name friend and I shall not see her harmed." He added in his most courteous manner before turning about on his heel and striding from the room in an altogether different direction than he had entered.

Which was a good thing, because if he had he would learn that the young Princess he had been defending had snuck in to watch him. She leaned back against the corridor and stared at the opposing wall for some time in silent shock. Then, suddenly, she straightened up and dashed off back down the hall to the daily meeting of 'Serenity-chan's Court'. The others just _had_ to learn about what had just happened!

Kina giggled slightly as she ran. No more would she or the others have to deal with the mean-spirited comments or cruel jokes that had once been passed around about them. Maybe they would still be feared and avoided, but at least the nasty bits could be avoided by them more now.

**********

Shima walked up behind his reading student on silent feet. Kina didn't even bother looking up.

"Konban wa, Shima-sempai." She greeted him, never looking up from her book.

"Konban wa, Kina-chan." He replied, vaulting over the high back of the long bench to land lightly beside her on the seat. "And how are you today?"

"Good. Thanks." She hadn't looked up yet.

"And... Manuel, was it? How goes things with him?" he asked idly, staring up at the sky through the branches of an overhanging tree, his arms stretched out along the back of the bench and his legs out before him. 

Kina looked up finally with that question. "Manuel is fine, I guess." She shrugged. "I wouldn't really know."

Shima turned to look at her curiously. "Why not? I thought you two were getting close."

She laughed. It was a rather disdainful sound. "Ah, yes. We were I suppose. But not nearly as close as he was getting with that prissy Cassandra. Ah well. To have loved and lost and all that." She waved it off as if it meant nothing.

Shima wouldn't have any of it. "And to think that just two days ago you were all Manny this and Manuel that. It's hard to believe that you could be so completely over him in less than two days." He drawled. "Unless..." His eyes narrowed slightly. "What did you do to him, Kina-chan?"

She at least had enough sense of propriety to blush. 

"Oh by the Sacred Fires, Kina!" Shima bolted up right from his supine position as he began to realize what she may have done. "You didn't!"

"I did. And he deserved it too!" She retorted, holding firmly to her stance. "Evil, evil men like that... they DESERVE to be thunderbolted in the ass!" She snarled.

"You..." His face contorted into a particularly odd expression as he tried desperately not to laugh. "I cannot believe you did that, Kina!" He blurted out, then began to calm down a bit. "Well, at least his leather pants should have absorbed some of it, right?" He asked, in an attempt to pass the subject off.

"Actually... he wasn't wearing them at the time...."

"Wasn't..."

"He was fair busy with the nubile Cassandra when I found them..."

"Oh blessed Flames..."

"I sure did..."

"Kina!"

"He deserved it!"

"NO man deserves THAT!"

"Fuck that! Any man that cheats on me and LET'S ME CATCH HIM deserves whatever he GETS, Dammit!" she swore, heatedly.

Shima just looked remarkably pained from her statements. "Such language, Kina-chan..."

"I learned it from Akai. Anyway, maybe THAT will teach him to keep it in his pants." 

Shima could only chuckle awkwardly at that.

It was a truly embarrassing moment, but 

***********

"Kina-chan?" Shima almost whispered his question as he came up to the younger girl in the marble waiting chamber. His expression was one of a man who found himself with a very unpleasant duty before him.

"Shima-san!" Kina cried in response, her expression one of over exuberant joy. "They said you found Shinouki!" 

Shima nodded slowly, his expression changing from displeasure into one of pain. 

"Where is he, Shima-san? Where is my brother?" Kina asked imploringly, gazing up into his face.

"Kina-chan..."

"What? What's wrong?"

"Kina-chan... about Shinouki..."

"You didn't find him?" her face fell.

"I... I did find him, Kina-chan. It's just..."

"Just what, Shima-san?"

"Oh... Kina, I'm so, so sorry." 

She didn't make a sound. She just stood there before him as the realization came upon her about what might have occurred. What must have occurred to affect Shima so. Slowly tears began to trickled down from her emerald eyes like rain from heaven. 

Shima knelt on the ground before her, slightly awkward and noisy in his Golden Armor, and held his arms out to her in invitation. The suddenly bereft child rushed into the sheltering circle of his armored limbs. He closed his arms about her and held her to his chest awkwardly. Finally, he let his instincts take over, and reached up with a gloved hand to smooth her frazzled hair.

"It'll be okay, Kina-chan. It'll be okay. I promise." He whispered into her ear in an attempt to soothe her. "You'll never be alone, Kina-chan. Not while I live. I promise. I'll always be there for you if you need me. Always. So will the girls. No one's going to leave you if they can possibly help it Kina-chan."

**********

__


	19. Teacher

Ethan Frome __

Chapter Two: Teacher – Amilia

Amilia nestled down in the warm embrace of the smiling rogue that had absconded her from the grotto where she had awaited her twin sister and smiled. She was wondering how Akai was reacting to the fact that she had suddenly gone missing. Not that she meant anything mean by it or anything. It was just that Akai had gotten all of the masculine attention for so long that Amilia was relishing her chance to be in the spotlight. And maybe there was a bit of a mischievous streak in her somewhere deep inside. 

Then her smiling rouge looked down and gave her another one of those perfectly wonderful smirks of his. 

"So, Amilia-chan, how do you like flying so far?" he asked.

"It is most wonderful, Shima!" she cried back against the wind.

"Good! Oh... no. I forgot about lunch! I'm terribly sorry Amilia-chan!" 

"That is alright, Shima. I am not terribly hungered."

"No, it's not alright! It's my fault you missed lunch, and thus shall I make it up for you!"

And suddenly they were spiraling down to the ground again.

**********

Some time later they were sitting across from each other in the common room of a tiny inn some many kilometers away from the main Lunar city. They had just finished with the main course of their meal and were mulling over what type of fruit pie they wanted for after with their spiced cider. 

"I think perhaps Lunar gooseberry would be good, Shima. You may like it. It is much like the Earthian gooseberry as the fruit was originally imported from the Lunar surface." Amilia finally decided.

Shima shrugged. "It's your choice, Amilia-chan. I don't mind too much any which way." Then he directed his attention to the innkeeper. "My good man! May we have one of your fine Lunar gooseberry pies for our repast?" He asked as the rail-thin innkeeper strode over on his stalk-like legs. 

"Most certainly, good sir and madam. They shall be along in short order." The innkeeper, who was a rather jovial fellow despite his slender appearance, replied with a cheeky grin and a sketchy bow.

As he moved away, Amilia tried to turn the conversation towards Shima. "So, Shima. Do you come here often?" she asked innocently. Which is why she was so surprised when Shima burst out laughing. "What?! What is so humorous?!" she asked indignantly. 

"Oh, I am sorry, Amilia-chan! But that... that must be one of the oldest pick-up lines in the history of Earth!" he choked out as he slowly brought himself under control again.

"I do not understand, Shima. What is a 'pick-up line'?" Amilia was confused. She truly did not understand.

"It's hard to explain exactly. I think the one of the best way's I've heard it explained though was when Endymion informed me that it was how men that no one really wanted as a life-partner attempted to get women that had not chosen a partner yet to both talk to them and preferably sleep with them. My half-brother told me that women in the same situation also used such lines. Which is the cause for my laughter, Amilia-chan. I had not realized that you thought yourself one that no man would want!" He finished in mock-outrage.

"Oh! Oh no, Shima! That is not.. I am meaning that that is... I .." she stammered, quite flustered.

"Don't worry about it, Amilia-chan. I understand what you mean." He allowed with another of his smirks at her scarlet face.

Then the pie arrived and they were much more distracted by food then embarrassment. 

**********

"What's that?" Shima asked, leaning slightly over her shoulder so as to see the electronic mess covering the workstation before her. 

"This?" Amilia asked, waving at the scattered circuit boards, wires, and chips. 

Shima nodded. "Yes. That." 

"Oh. Well, eventually, it should be a micronized computer."

"Like the Lunar Mainframes?" He asked, picked up a stray circuit board.

"Yes, sort of. Although much, much smaller than those." She replied.

"Well, of course. There's not nearly enough stuff here to make a big thing. Not without magic anyway." Shima shrugged, setting the board back down on the table. 

For sometime Amilia worked diligently at the tiny workings with Shima hovering about watching and making a general nuisance out of himself. Finally, she set her tools down upon the table and turned to face him. 

"Shima, is there something I can help you with?"

"Me? Oh. No. There's nothing." 

"Are you sure?"

"Why yes. Of course I am. Why?"

"I do not know. Mayperchance it is because you have insisted upon hovering about for nearly two Terran hours now?" 

"Uh... Sorry, Amilia-chan. I'm just a bit bored. What you were doing looked interesting so I decided to watch."

"Do you know how intensely annoying and distracting that is?"

"I... um... I'm beginning to find out, I think..."

"Good. If you insist on standing around though, kindly make use of your proclivity towards idleness and assist me."

"Sure. What do you need?"

"If you could hand me that 440 fromitz?"

***********

"Ami-chan," Shima was circling around the girl who stood in a very awkward looking stance in the middle of the training room. "what are you trying to do?"

"Akai said that this would help with my control." Amilia replied, slowly moving from her extremely awkward stance into a rather odd contortion that involved putting one arm back behind one leg while the other leg was stretched up above her head and the other arm was held out at a forty-five degree angle from the body. 

"She did?" Shima's voice indicated an obvious sense of disbelief mixed with curiosity. Which was a good thing sense, at her current angle, Amilia couldn't really see much of any of him. "The only thing I can see it helping is your chiropractor's practice. Doesn't that hurt?" 

Amilia had just switched into another position that looked like something you would see some hapless soul contorting into in a vision of Hades. The human body was just not designed to DO that! 

"Well, it is fairly awkward." Amilia conceded after she gained her insanely painful looking position. 

"Why don't you just study one of the Martian Arts?" Shima finally asked, his curiosity getting the better of him at last. "I could teach you. Kina-chan is already learning from me. It wouldn't be any trouble to teach you too. Really."

Amilia straightened with a rather loud crackle pop sound emanating from her back. Putting a hand to her back, she straightened entirely to her normal upright position. "Ouch. No, Shima. That is alright. I would rather not study those arts."

"Why? It can't be pain. Anything would be less painful than whatever that was you were doing." Shima argued, gesturing towards the ground.

"Mayperchance you are correct, Shima. However, I chose not to condone any art which doth teach of the taking of another's life."

"No matter how necessary, huh?" Shima's voice was tinged with wry irony. His face was expressionless.

"That is correct. I cannot condone such senseless violence under any circumstance, which is why I do chose to distance myself from the barracks so often." Amilia finished, turning from him to begin gathering her things in preparation for her return to her rooms.

"Then you most certainly do not condone myself. Or Ranko. Or Prince Endymion." He paused, his face stern, as he let her turn back to face him again before finishing. "Or your sister, Akai."

"Shima! That is not.." She began, her face horrified as the realization of what she had done dawned upon her.

He held up a hand. "No. That is exactly what you meant. You said that you 'cannot condone such senseless violence under any circumstance'. ANY circumstance, Amilia-san." She winced at the sudden cold formality filling his so often warm voice, and shuddered further to know that it was directed at her and why. "Those 'circumstances' have involved the defense of ourselves or defense of others from those less scrupulous than yourself. Those circumstances have involved ending the existence of a creature who had cut down a family in cold blood and destroyed a tiny child's life. Those circumstances have saved my life and those around me. Those circumstances," He paused again, catching her eyes in his own piercing glare. "have involved saving your life. 

Amilia knew of what he was referring to. She had been there when it happened after all. She had watched as Shima and her twin sister had suddenly and violently extinguished the spark of life in the two beasts that had attempted to have their way with her. She had been so grateful then. Grateful that they had come and saved her from them. 

She had simply crouched there against the wall and let Shima deal with Akai as her sister had become so suddenly sick about what she had forced herself to do. She realized that now. Akai was not the violent warrioress that so many thought she was. She had had to FORCE herself to kill those two men, despite the fact that she knew what they would do if she hadn't. 

Suddenly, Amilia felt so totally and completely hypocritical. With a few simple, thoughtless words, she had destroyed so much more than she could ever help to regain. With a irrational turn of phrase she had effectively alienated one of the only people outside of the Senshi who would speak to her with anything approaching respect. She had annihilated any chance she had to learn of the strange dimension that Shima existed in with her own self-admittedly selfish convictions.

She could not understand what had possessed her to do as she had done. No one could truly influence Shima. And that was exactly what she had tried to do in her foolish attempt to sway him to her own choice of non-violence.

He was a unique and completely individual force in the structured existence of the Court of Serenity. Everyone knew who they were before the Queen. And they knew whom everyone else was as well. Except for Shima. 

He was uncontrollable by any save himself and at times, her own sister, Akai. No one ever knew what he would do from one moment to the next. That disturbing non-predictability particularly disturbed the Guardian of Pluto, not that Amilia had much to do with the elusive Keeper of the Gates of Time. Which was a situation she took pains to keep as it was, just as the rest of the Senshi did.

Amilia slowly fell to her knees before Shima as she thought upon her actions. Slowly tears began to trickled down her face. She gazed up at him through watery eyes.

"Please forgive me, Shima-sama." She whispered, clasping her hands together. "I understood not what I said. Oh please, forgive me my error." Her gaze suddenly fell to the padded ground they stood upon.

Shima took an unhurried knee before her and reached out lifted her face with one hand so that he might look into her eyes. 

"Do you understand now, little one? Why it is that I feel I must fight? Why your sister and the other girls feel the same?" He asked, the sternness in his voice now softened with an blanket of gentle kindness. 

Amilia nodded slowly, silently.

Shima smiled softly as he reached out with his free hand and gently brushed away the tears that had fallen down her face. "We only want to help, Amilia-chan. We do not take pleasure in those deaths we must cause. Never, ever think we do. We fight to defend, to protect, and to preserve the innocence of others who either cannot fight or who chose to serve a higher calling. Maybe you are one of those blessed by the gods. I don't know."

Amilia moved as if to speak, but Shima held up a hand with one of his smirks, though his eyes were sad. "I understand that you do not wish to fight, Amilia-chan, but I want you to understand something about the Martian Arts."

"I do not understand, Shima." Puzzlement filled her expression, wiping away the grief and pain that had been there.

"Not all of the Martian Arts are about killing, little one." He stood, bringing her up with him. "All of Mars learns at least one of the Martian Arts as part of their schooling during childhood. However, we do have those such as yourself upon the Planet of War. There are those who chose not to take the lives of others among what was once my people. Yet, they too learn of the Martian Arts."

"Shima.."

"Wait. Let me finish. Some of the Arts were developed through the use of passive aggression in order to reach ones goal. To this day, I have not heard of the passive aggression Arts taking of life, though if force, I am quite certain they are capable of it. As with any of the Arts, one is taught that one must always be certain of the amount of force to use against one's opponent in order to avoid death whenever possible. I do not normally seek to destroy my opponents, though it has happened. You need not ever seek death for another. However, if you know that you are capable of such action if it is needed, you are less likely to need the ability."

"Permit me to attempt to understand this which you have said. It is better for me to possess the knowledge upon the manner in which action must be taken for to end the existence of another for such reason that by the possession of the aforementioned knowledge I shall endeavor to cause the diminution of the likelihood of necessary possession of such knowledge to be of sine qua non." 

"Um. I think so."

"Alright. I may admit that I do not fully understand the exact need of the ability to enact pain upon another creature. However, I shall attempt the learning of this passive aggression Art that you speak of, Shima." Amilia finally decided. "As it exists, though, the training must wait for another day. It is time and beyond that I must be returning to my quarters. Fare thee well, Shima of the Lord Phoenix." 

"Fare thee well also, Amilia of the Kingdom of Learning." Shima returned with a flourishing bow as she left the room.

***********

The soulless beasts assailed heavily upon the azure shield originally erected by Shima with the Phoenix Force and now kept powered by the steady feed of ki being fed into it by Amilia in the defended center of the diamond created by the five others she ran with. She may not have been able to force herself to take even the existences of the soulless demons which assaulted them, but she could by Mercury defend those who could! 

"Minanoai! There! Those armored minotaur things have a chink in their armor generally around the center of the chest! It's generally in the vicinity of that gem there!" She shouted, having scanned the entire division in order to find some shared weakness.

"Thanks, Amilia!" Minanoai called back over her shoulder even as she sent out several hundred of her signature ki blasts towards the gems on the armor.

Amilia glanced up from the palmtop computer that she had managed to build with Shima's help just in time to see Kina spin kick something that looked disturbingly like the Earthian God, Shiva, in the head. Four faces and six arms wielding stone swords and axes tended to cause such an association, though Kina was managing to hold her own against it. Amilia almost shouted a warning as another arm came towards her friend, but Kina parried it with her oak-leaf guarded sword right before punching the blade through the creature's chest and letting it die in a blue ooze. 

The swords had been gifts from Shima before the battle began. Each of the girls carried one. And each one was unique to the girl. Amilia's own was more like a baton then anything, with no edge or point to it. However, Akai's was a curved affair that Shima said was a style used in an Earthian version of one of the Martian Arts called 'kung fu'. There were steel loops running through the inner edge for some unknown reason. The hilt, guard and pommel were remarkably plain, though. The decoration was on the blade itself, a long curling wave that traced the length of the blade. 

Minanoai carried a straight blade with a simple crescent for a guard. Reiki's sword split into two, one with a dragon carved onto, the other with a phoenix, representing her tie to the Lord Phoenix through her brother. They were all beautiful weapons, though quite deadly. But none was quite like Shima's blade. A long tongue of flame projected from the hilted and brought fiery death to any who got in the way of its path. 

She recognized his sword of course. No one else had ever managed to wield the Martian Sword of the High Prince with its metamorphic blade. Some said it was tied to Shima through the medium of spilt blood. Others just said that it was the mastery of the blade that caused the Lord Phoenix to chose him as his Champion Among Mortals. Others said exactly the opposite. The only thing everyone knew for certain was that Shima was the only one to use that sword in combat for nigh onto five hundred years now. Shima himself had once mentioned off hand that he wasn't the one that chose the blade he wielded, but the sword was. It was confusing, but then, so was Shima.

Which was why Amilia was now locked into a deadly battle against so many. She had never ever intended to ever be in a situation like this. But then, one can never truly predict the future. Especially not if one is a friend of the Phoenix Prince. Amilia smiled wryly at that thought, even as she focused on sending more energy into the shields covering them. 

Then, suddenly, she realized that Kina had somehow been drawn from their group deep into enemy lines. Even as she yelled and screamed for her tall and lanky friend to return to the safety of the shields, she was forced to watch as a monstrous creature that may have once been a man snuck up behind the girl. Amilia howled in pain and outrage as the creature drove its single overlarge claw straight through the back of her dear friend. Kina arched suddenly against the pain lancing through her body. Her face was a horrified mask of anguish. Blood ran everywhere, from her mouth, her nose, even her ears. Amilia could only watch her friend's trembling, ensanguined lips form the sacred words that would unlock her power entirely in one gigantic burst of light, power, and sound. Amilia knew as well as Kina that those words were suicidal. But then, Kina was already dead and she knew it. As the short phrase was completed, her lips drew back into a terrifyingly satisfied smirk.

Then her body was ripped apart as every single iota of energy she had ever called upon suddenly burst from every cell in her wiry frame. A sudden desolation came across the demon corps as the undeniable eruption of power swept over them and reduced them to their component atoms. By the time the light faded enough to see by, everything in a hundred foot radius from the sight of Kina's death had been eradicated. Barely three demons stood between the smaller and sadder band and the nearest edge of the explosion. 

They fought on with even more energy after that. Amilia began feeding the slight amount of energy that was no longer needed in the shields into the other three Senshi. Shima, with his direct feed into the Phoenix Force that even Saffron had not been capable of destroying, neither needed nor wanted for extra power in his struggle.

Then as abruptly as Kina had vanished from their midst, Minanoai slipped upon ground slick with demon blood and fell beneath their trampling appendages. She held herself together and kept herself alive for just long enough for the others to get at least a hundred feet away from her before whispering her words of release. 

As soon as they had managed to move out of the kill-zone, almost solid bolt of opaque golden energy shot up into the air then burst apart and showered death back down upon the demon corps. And then there was one more desolate hundred foot circle into which no one, human or demon, would enter scarred the Lunar surface.

They struggled on for what seemed like hours longer, leaving countless beings dead and bereft in their wake. Shima was constantly calling for them to stay with him and keep fighting. He knew they were beginning to lose spirit with the fall of their two comrades. So he kept at them, fighting alongside them, refusing to give up. Just by being there and staying strong despite the pain that he obviously felt because of the loss of their dear companions managed to keep them moving ever onward towards the Princess Serenity.

It happened without warning. Just as the other had fell, so did Amilia. The shields above her fell for just the briefest of instants, but that was all the fliers needed. One suddenly swooped down out of the sky and plucked her from the center of their band. She gave a single startled, painfilled cry as the heavy talons dug into and tore at her shoulders and back. 

The flier that had grabbed her carried her high into the air above the band and deep into the flock of evil, bird-like entities. The winged creatures soared around her, tearing at her skin, and slowly torturing her to death. 

She endured for as long as she could before responding. Slowly, her bloody, sightless face raised from where she had hung her head against her chest and stared out before her. Slowly her lips formed four words.

"I understand now, Shima." She whispered, even as the fliers screamed and dove at her again.

She reached deep with in herself and found the words she needed. The words that would facilitate her end and bring death and destruction to her enemies. It was the ultimate of kamikaze techniques and each of the Senshi had the ability within them if they ever found the abilities needed. And now, the sworn pacifist of the Senshi had found a need so powerful that it nearly drove her to tears. 

"Sonzai Hitei Suru." Her lips formed the words, but no sound emerged, as the fliers had finally managed to remove her throat.

For a moment, she felt nothing and tears ran down her face as she contemplated her failure. Then she felt it. The cold building within her. The ice beginning to form on her skin. And then the sudden glorious eruption that neither hurt nor caused her any emotion but an abrupt and wondrous joy.

The sudden release of every iota of energy by the Senshi of Ice cause a lot of pain. As the sphere grew to its one hundred foot diameter, every last one of the fliers were sucked within. The bodies rained down upon the demon corps like a pestilence from heaven itself.

But the soul which had once been Amilia, the gentling counterpart of Akai and a Senshi in her own right, no longer cared. She was happy now, though a distant part of her felt a nagging sorrow at leaving an important part of herself behind. Then she felt a tugging at her soul and she found herself being pulled from her vantage point above the field of battle to another place. A place where she was once again with Kina and Minanoai, and they were reunited with their slightly less known friends and allies, Princess Soramegami of Uranus and Princess Hitode of Uranus. The youngest of the Outer Senshi, Princess Shizukesa of Saturn was not in sight. 

Then it dawned on Amilia. Shizukesa, named so in home of calming the raging hurricane inside of the small girl, was being held back until the end. She was only to use her powers as a last resort. And Amilia suddenly knew that she would see Shizukesa soon. As well as the other girls that she had fought so long beside.


	20. Leader

Ethan Frome __

Chapter Three: Leader – Minanoai

Minanoai was little more than a child when she first met the man who was to be the Phoenix Prince. Shima was a studious youth then, albeit a cheerfully studious one. He was nothing like the childish little boys that she was so used to back home on Venus. Nor was he like the boring dull men and students of Mercury, where her friends Akai and Amilia lived. He was different, and _older_! 

Plus, she got to see him a lot. Especially since he was the beloved older brother of her friend Reiki. Which meant that she saw quite a lot more of him then she had ever got to see of any of her other friend's older siblings. He and Reiki were very close for siblings. In fact, Minanoai's nanny had pointed out a very pretty painting of Shima holding his little sister when she was a baby in the main hall. Minanoai took that as a telling point for Shima since most of her other friend's paintings of them as little babies showed them with their parents. 

But be all that as it may be, she had never expected for that handsome older youth to ever notice a little girl like here. No one else his age ever noticed her before. Which is perhaps why she was so surprised when he made an especial point of taking the time to introduce himself properly the first time he met her.

**********

The High Court was abuzz with the sound of gossip and various comments scurrying this way and that around the large onyx hall. The miscellaneous voices echoed almost eerily in the vaulted chamber as far as the tiny girl-child from Venus was concerned. She felt so unbelievably tiny in the gigantic room with the only color relieving the inky darkness coming from the gaudily dressed foreign ambassadors and the two massive chairs in the front of the room. 

The first chair was made of what appeared to be a single huge ruby. It looked very hard and infinitely uncomfortable, which made it undeniably the War Throne, especially since it dominated the center of the way and was presided over by the enormous mountain of a man with his great shaggy black beard and long hair who was the Martian King. To its immediate left was a slightly smaller chair, though no less intimidating once you realized who was sitting in it. The smaller chair was made of bright, highly polished gold. Which by itself was impressive, but not awe-inspiring so. It was the boy who was perched unconcernedly upon that inspired the awe. 

The boy was young. Maybe thirteen or fourteen years old. His face was unmarked by the massive bush that dominated his father's face. His long hair was unruly, but no where near as bad as his father's wild curls. He bore a pensive expression on his face and reclined rather than rode his chair. He was thin, and did not look to terribly fierce, but he sat the Throne of the High Prince with ease. And he had the right to it, as he had bested the best warriors of Mars in order to achieve that right. Besides, at his waist hung the legendary Sword of the High Prince, which was enough to inspire loyalty in nearly anyone on Mars. 

These were the people who the tiny Princess of Venus was slowly being taken to, and quite frankly she was just this side of terrified by them. She would have been completely terrified if it wasn't for the fact that it was her father walking with her and not her nanny. For she was still a young girl and she firmly believed in the deification of her father that all small children hold so resolutely to. 

"King Shoorisha, my friend!" Her father crowed, to grasp the outstretched hand of the smiling giant. 

"Ah-ha! King Ungaii! How are you, old boy?" The giant roared back, rising from his throne to clap the smaller man on the back.

"Oh, you know. The usual. The usual." Ungaii shrugged with a sly grin on his face. "Anyway, I came to meet the new High Prince! This is he?" 

"Ah! Of course! Ungaii, old boy, meet the finest warrior on Mars and MY son! This is Shima!" Shoorisha bellowed, waving a massive paw in Shima's direction. 

Shima, for his part, looked mildly interested in the whole going on. 

"Well, Shima, my boy! It's a pleasure to meet you!" Ungaii grabbed Shima's hand and pumped it a few times, leaving Shima with an expression that would be familiar on the face of someone that had just handled something rather disgusting. "So, tell me, boy! How are you going to treat the Martian/Venusian treaty when you ascend to the War Throne?" the overly jubilant Ungaii asked. 

"You are being awfully rude, sir." Shima had answered in a soft voice as he deliberately turned from the overbearing King of Venus.

"What?! What was that?! Shoorisha! What is the meaning of this rudeness!" Ungaii demanded of Shima's father.

"Shima! I order you to answer King Ungaii's question this instant!" His father blustered.

"I shall not." Shima replied. "For he is a rude and arrogant fool." 

"How.. How dare you!?" 

Shima completely ignored the red-faced looks he was getting from both his father and the Venusian King in order to stand and walk the two steps to where Minanoai stood forgotten. Dropping to one knee before her he held out a gentle hand to her. 

"Hello, little one." He spoke in a soft voice, confident of his abilities, but gentle and sincere. "I am Shima of Mars, the Heir to the War Throne and the High Prince of Mars. I apologize for my father's arrogance in refusing to introduce us properly. I do hope you shall forgive me." He continued in the same soft voice.

"Shima! What do you think you are doing!" Shoorisha roared in fury.

"Please pardon me, little one." Shima said, before rising to his feet and sneering at his father. "I happen to be CORRECTING a FAULT made by YOU, FATHER!" he roared, anger evident in his voice. 

"I made no MISTAKE, BOY!" 

"You did. You made your mistake when you refused to acknowledge a guest before you. You REFUSED to make PROPER introductions between two people who are first met! Just as you REFUSED to raise my SISTER! You are NO MAN, FATHER." The word "father" was spit out with disgust. "For no true man would ever refuse a person something so integral to their being just because they are a girl. So, FATHER, just wait. The time WILL come, and you SHALL be removed."

Then he turned his back on him and returned his attention to Minanoai. "Now, little one. May I know your name?"

Minanoai nodded shyly. "I am known as Minanoai of Venus, great lord."

"Now, now. I shall have none of that." Shima smiled. It was a very pretty smile. "I am no great lord. I am Shima. And that is what you may call me if you so desire." 

By this point, Ungaii was positively glowing. If he managed to look any more pleased, it is quite possible that he would have burst. His daughter! A friend of the High Prince of Mars! What a glorious match it would be! And his mind was gone off in visions of a fairytale land.

**********

She had thrived under the friendship of the High Prince and his sister. The gawky young girl had matured quickly into a beautiful young lady. Though she still bore her slight crush upon the handsome Shima.

Then one day he disappeared entirely. The Lord Phoenix had claimed him for his own. And Shima was gone. 

Minanoai found out what had occurred when Reiki had appeared suddenly in her chambers on Venus with tears in her eyes. Minanoai knew of only one possible thing that could bring the fairly religious Reiki to such a point. Immediately she was filled with concern for her only truly male friend besides Princess Kina of Jupiter's elder brother Shinouki. 

***********

Minanoai slowly pulled open the doors of her chambers with an understandable wariness. 

"Yes? Who is it?" She asked through a crack in the door.

"Mina-chan?" the trembling voice was immediately recognizable. Minanoai pushed the door open enough so that Reiki could enter then quickly shut it again after looking both left and right. So far no one knew where her chambers were and she would like very much to keep it that way. 

After securing the door, she turned to where her friend had sat down on the edge of her simple bed. The poor girl looked like she had been sobbing for days. No tears ran down her face anymore. She had none left to cry.

"Reiki, what is it? What's wrong?" Minanoai asked the poor girl, coming over to sit by her side and drape a comforting arm about her shoulders. 

"It's – It's Shima." Reiki choked out between sobs. 

"Shima? Oh no. What happened, Reiki?" Minanoai's voice was becoming anxious. 

"He's gone, Mina-chan! He's gone! The Lord Phoenix came and took my brother away and now I don't know what to do!" Reiki wailed, suddenly turning and burying her face in Minanoai's shoulder. 

Tears were beginning to stream down Minanoai's face. She had heard about the Lord Phoenix. Rumors said that he went from planet to planet and took the best from each and then destroyed them completely. At least, no one ever came back from being with the Lord Phoenix. And now He had gone to Mars. There was no doubt in Minanoai's mind or in Reiki's that He would take Shima once he came to Mars, for who could possibly be better than Shima upon the Planet of War? 

And now it had occurred. Already the two girls were beginning to feel the desolation that his loss would cause them for the rest of their lives. So many had gone with the Lord Phoenix and never returned. They couldn't afford to hope beyond hope that Shima would be the exception to the rule. They both loved him so dearly, but they knew better than to confidently expect the impossible from the young man every time something happened. 

Now they saw only two options lying before them. The first wasn't really much of an option as far as they could see it. It was to simply forget and go on with their lives as if he had never touched them. And that was absolutely impossible for two girls who's lives had been shaped around knowing him. 

Which left the second option. To find a path. To chose a direction in which to live their lives. And most of all, to chose a path that would honor the young man they both looked upon with the eyes of an adoring little sister who's hero was no more and no less than her big brother. 

"What are we going to do now, Mina-chan?" Reiki asked softly, as she gradually gained control of her emotions again. 

Minanoai swallowed down the lump in her throat that attempted to prevent her from making an choice known. It was a dangerous program she was thinking of suggesting they enroll in, but it was a distinct honor to be accepted into it. She knew that most often only one person, most often a girl though she had heard rumors of one young man managing to get through the program, from each planet would be awarded a position in the program. However, she felt that it would be a worthy operation to dedicate their lives to, as they could not truly inherit their patriarchal kingdom's thrones. 

"There... there is one thing we could do, Reiki..." Minanoai gulped, her gaze unfocused and random.

Reiki looked up and stared confusedly at Minanoai. "What?"

"The Senshi Program." Minanoai whispered, almost as if she didn't really want to say it. 

"The Senshi Program?" Reiki breathed, almost in awe. "Do you think we have a chance?" 

Minanoai's eyes refocused, and she directed their gaze to her friend's questioning features. "Well, we can't know unless we try, don't you think? Who knows, maybe we'll be Chosen for a position on the Senshi themselves!" She laughed at the possibility. She didn't really think that they would be accepted, but it was an honor to try anyways.

***********

The two friends' enrollment into the feared and awe-inspiring new Senshi Program that was instrumental in providing the key defenders of the Realms seemed almost destined. They had both prospered from the friendship with the High Prince of Mars both physically and mentally. 

Reiki easily beat out all of the other girls running for the position of Senshi of Mars in the Martian Arts competition that was a big factor in the Choosing of a Senshi of Mars. It was a definite advantage to have been trained in hand-to-hand combat by the best warrior nonpareil on the planet. And her helping her brother with his studying allowed her to show well in the religious backgrounds. 

Minanoai had charm to spare for the position of Senshi of Venus. There was a reason after all that she took such care in keeping people from knowing where she slept after all. And then she managed to impress the first Senshi of Venus with her skill with a bow and arrow and her accuracy of fire. 

Soon, the two found themselves before the Board which would give the final interview that would decide once and for all whom would get the honor of entering the Chamber of Choosing that would decide who would be the best Senshi overall. Without too much surprise involved both Minanoai and Reiki were among the selected groups that would venture into the mysterious Chamber of Choosing. The question was who would emerge victorious. 

Reiki went in last of her group. It was a long time before she emerged, which most everyone took as a good sign, since everyone else was only in there for a few Terran minutes at most. Then, finally, Reiki emerged, weary but striding from the chamber with a pride that had been noticeably absent from the other applicants who had emerged from the same chamber. 

She had emerged victorious. In her hands she bore the mystical charm that held the powers of a Senshi of Mars. On her face she bore a proud smile. Yet, she appeared so much older than she had been when she went in.

This is what Minanoai saw before they called the for the Venusian group to step forward. Minanoai had sometime to wait before they called her up. But eventually she came to her turn to step through the stone arch into the dark chamber beyond.

***********

Minanoai stepped into the inky darkness of the chamber and felt for a moment as if she was falling. Then she remembered another place that had shared the inky quality of the darkness. And the darkness changed. About her formed the high arching walls and vaulted onyx ceiling of the Throne Hall of the Martian Palace where she had first met Shima so long ago. Under her feet formed the smooth black obsidian flagstones that made up the floor. No longer did she feel like she was falling. She smirked and walked down the uninhabited hall towards were the two thrones she remembered so clearly sat.

There were the two thrones. The ruby War Throne and the gold Throne of the High Prince beside it. And in those chairs sat Shima and his father. For a moment she seemed to hesitate, but then she kept going, striving to keep the laughter from burbling out of her at the sight. For the beings that now imitated Shima and his father may have pulled their images from her mind, they most certainly did not get every detail correct. For there in the ruby War Throne sat Shima with an amusingly imperious look on his face and there on the gold Throne of the High Prince crouched the bushy giant that was his father with a positively uncomfortable look on her face. Which made sense as the Throne of the High Prince was far too small for King Shoorisha to sit in comfortably, and apparently the being which had taken his image was beginning to notice this.

"Hello, little one." The voice rumbled from everywhere and nowhere, yet it was the Shima-being who's lips moved. "We are quite amused by you. Not often does a candidate enter the Chamber of Choosing with laughter in her mind. Or does one managed to so quickly find a place of comfort to their minds. We are impressed, congratulations."

"Thank you, good sirs. I am most honored by your congratulations." Minanoai offered politely. "Forgive me for not introducing myself. I am Minanoai of Venus."

"Yes, we were made aware of your name some time ago. Now, we suppose that you are perchance wondering what your test shall be. Are we correct in this supposition?" 

"Actually? Yes. You are correct."

"Good. Because your test is upon you." 

Suddenly Minanoai found herself deep within a raging battle with the powers of Venus at her command. She found herself commanding a force in gold and was leading it quite against an opposing force in red. Then she recognized the leader of the opposing force.

Reiki herself sat proud upon a massive roan charger wearing crimson armor embossed with the emblem of Mars. 

Looking down at herself, she found herself in yellow leather armor embossed with the crest of Venus. And suddenly wept in loss. For whatever it was she had done it had driven apart the friendship between herself and Reiki. Not only had she lost Shima to the Lord Phoenix, she had now lost Reiki to her own foolishness.

Suddenly, one of her archers loosed an arrow. The golden shaft flickered through the air and plunged deep into the crimson breastplate of Reiki's armor. Reiki paused for a moment, looking down at the burst of golden fletching protruding from her chest. Then she tumbled from her mount with a massive clatter to strike upon the ground hard. 

"NOO!" Minanoai screamed. "Everybody STOP!" 

As the two armies slowed to a halt, Minanoai threw herself from her own mount and raced across the ground to her dying friend's side. Dropping to her knees beside her, she lifted her bloody friend into her lap. Reiki looked up at her with her remarkably violet eyes lacking any form of recrimination that Minanoai so deeply expected to be there. 

"Oh, Reiki.. Reiki, I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry this happened." She sobbed, holding the slightly taller girl to her as she rocked back and forth.

"Do-don't blame yourself, Mina-chan." Reiki choked out through the blood that frothed from her lips. "I-it wasn't your fault. You were being controlled by the evil."

"No. Reiki. No, I wasn't. I-I.. oh, blessed Venus, it was my fault, Reiki. It'll always be my fault you died, Reiki!" Knowledge suddenly came to her giving her the information she needed to know what had caused the events that were occurring now to have started. "It was all my fault. I let myself be capture. I was overconfident and stupid, and oh, Reiki! I'm so sorry!" She sobbed. "I should have listened to you! I should have known I couldn't resist the evil. I should have KNOWN! It's all my fault! It's my fault Serenity fell!" 

Minanoai sobbed heavily into Reiki's cape, then looked down at her friend and saw that the light had gone from her violet eyes. At that, Minanoai lost it. She laid Reiki's body back down upon the ground and pulled the arrow from her breast. 

Positioning the arrow between her breasts, she took a deep breath and yelled.

"I know that I was at fault! I know that I have been cause of so many deaths that could have been prevented! I know that I am at fault and I choose to make amends!" she sobbed as loud as she could, kneeling between the two armies were all could see, beside the extinguished body of her dearest friend. "I know that what I do now will never be enough, but maybe, someday, someone can find it within them to forgive what I have done! I hope that somehow peace can be found with my death!"

And with all the force in her arms she plunged the arrow that had taken the life of her friend deep within her heart and fell back to lie upon the rocky ground beside the one who's life she had caused to end untimely. As her life-force slowly bled away into the ensanguined soil, she stared up into the cloudless blue sky and wondered upon what soil they fought.

As she stared into the sky, her hands still enwrapped about the shaft of the arrow, she noticed a very peculiar thing occurring in the sky. As she watched, it darkened and became not unlike onyx. Then it came to her. She was no longer on the field of battle. 

She had been returned to the weird Throne Hall of Mars that the beings that wanted to test her had messed up so badly. Then she began to remember. It had been a test. Reiki was still alive. And more than that they were still friends. She sat up suddenly, not even thinking about the item in her hands. 

"Congratulations are in order, Minanoai of Venus." The Shoorisha-being's lips moved in correspondence with the words this time. "It seems that you have past our little test."

"Past? I don't understand. I failed. I must have." She argued confused and weary. 

She was rewarded with the distinct feeling that the beings were laughing at her because of her argument.

"No, you most certainly do not understand, do you? The test was a question of responsibility. And you did pass. Because, despite everything, you did take responsibility for your actions at the last. Your way of proving it was a bit on the strange side, but it definitely proved that you are willing to take responsibility for what you cause. Responsibility is an important part of a Senshi. And we all think that you shall perform well as the Senshi of Venus. So rise, good lady, and leave now. We have Chosen." 

Minanoai stumbled out of the room in a daze. The amulet of Venus was clutched tightly in her hands, having replaced the arrow that she had attempted reparations with. 

__

End Book Two


	21. Reborn Powers

Book Three: The Rising **__**

Book Three: The Rising

Part Seven: New Powers

Chapter One: Reborn Powers

For no less than two weeks now, the obsidian bier had remained untouched in the center of the grotto. Its dark, smooth surface remained untouched, despite the overwhelming curiosity of everyone who saw it. For it was a perfectly round, six foot in diameter, piece of the smoothest, most flawless obsidian anyone had ever seen. And it was embedded quite firmly into the ground in the center of the otherwise peaceful grotto. 

And that was not the only mystery plaguing Nerima those days. For over a week now Saotome Nodoka had been heading a search team which was combing the nearby forests and parks for any sign of her missing son. Ranma had gone missing, and if any knew where he was, no one was telling.

Then there was the enigma of the powerful sorrow and self-hatred which had grown into an unassailable fortress about the young temple maiden known as Hino Rei. She refused to speak to anyone, even if they did manage to get her to see them. She would just stare blankly with unseeing violet eyes at anyone that tried to talk to her. Sometimes, very rarely, she would seem to acknowledge the person with her, though still no words would issue from her lips. Most often it was her over-enthusiastic friend Minako that managed to get the most recognition from her. Especially since the time of what the other girls had come to call the Dreaming. 

So much had been revealed to them in the Dreaming. So much of their past lives had unfolded. Many of the unanswered questions that had plagued them were becoming answered. And yet there was still two large gaps in their understanding. It was as if they were missing the two key pieces that would make everything fall into place.

And they were. For one piece was held in the mind of a nearly comatose temple maiden. And the other, perhaps most important, piece was buried under a perfect cylinder of pure obsidian. 

***********

The few patrons of the grotto which held the enigmatic obsidian circle had begun to notice something strange occurring under its inky black surface. For the past few days, random flashes of light flickered an danced under the surface.

But the most unusual part was what happened at night. 

For at night, deep cobalt and sapphire flames leapt up from the disk and waltzed the night away in a macabre dance. For theirs was a tale of regret and a song of death. Yet through that song would come rebirth anew. 

***********

And far away in another part of the city, the youngest daughter of the Tendo clan cried herself to sleep once more.

For she had felt his loss so deep within her that she could never find the words to properly express a feeling so abstract as what she felt. Words escaped her. And tears fell from her eyes as a result. 

She knew that he was gone. She didn't understand exactly how she knew, but she did know. She just woke up one morning after a terrible nightmare calling for Ranma and yet knowing that even had he never left, he would not come running. Because he would be unable. She had lost him. 

And that very nearly destroyed her. For she remembered the dream she had. The dream where he had been dressed in wonderful golden armor like a prince out of legend and he had held her hand in his and asked her to marry him. She remembered that dream so well because it seemed that it had actually happened somewhere. Like it was more of a memory than a real dream. Just something she had forgotten from long ago.

But what she remembered best. What she held to most fiercely in her mind was not the proposal, however romantic it seemed. No, what she clung too when the night was darkest and it seemed that dawn would never come was a simple promise he had made in the dream.

_'Don't look at me like that. I didn't plan on leaving then, and I don't plan on leaving now. Ok? I won't leave you. Not now. Not ever. Not if there is any possible way I can help it. Everything will be alright, Akai. You'll see. Somehow. Someday. Everything will be alright again. It just has to be.' _

It was those words that somehow managed to keep her going. Those words and the hope, the desperate, heart-felt plea, that they held truth and wisdom within their structures. 

She just missed him so much. 

***********

Back in Nerima, Rei felt nearly as much pain as Akane did. And yet her pain was not immaterial like Akane's. It was far, far worse to actually know beyond any doubt what had happened in Rei's case. Whereas in Akane's knowing would have brought some tiny abatement of her pain by allaying the anxious worrying that plagued her through her unknowing. Of course, it would have resulted in ungodly pain for Rei in the physical sense if Akane had actually known, but as she didn't that didn't matter.

Rei was faced with the torment of destroying the young man, that was not only rapidly becoming a good friend and confidant of hers but who was also her cousin, on the rather foolish belief that he might __possibly_ _be the reincarnation of her long-lost brother from the Silver Millennium. 

And that torment was what had forced her mind into withdrawal. She had dove deep with in herself in a futile attempt to escape the heart-tearing pain of what she had done. Which forced a wall around her that none of her friends could penetrate.

Only one thing ever came through the wall. Vicious, rending anger. And that was for the two attempts made by Artemis and Luna.

The cats had approached her twice. Both times by themselves and alone. The first time had been Artemis, and Rei's reaction to him had been so surprising and violent that the white cat had needed no less than fifteen stitches along his side and Minako had quite adamantly refused to let him anywhere near Rei again. 

Luna had been next. In her pompous arrogance she had ignored Artemis' warning that Rei was upset. She had ignored his stitches and the fact that Minako was making him stay far away from Rei. She had ignored all of that, confident that the girl she had helped train would never turn on her.

She had been wrong. And now she was lucky to be alive. Both of her front legs had been broken with the force of Rei's first blow. One ear hung drooped forward because of awkward stitching where the ear had been torn nearly off. All in all, she was in far worse shape than Artemis. Which meant that now all the girls would go to almost drastic extents in order to keep the cats far from Rei's sight.

They may not have liked her silence all too much. But the vicious, unreasoning violence was far, far worse than any amount of silence. 

***********

And miles under the earth, beneath a obsidian cylinder, a skeletal figure stirred. And began to burn. 

***********

High above in the grotto where the top of the obsidian cylinder reached the surface, a strange rumbling was heard. Along with a faint roar of almost pain. 

And the ground shook. And the cylinder trembled. And things happened.

***********

Miles away in Juuban, Akane sat up in bed with the first smile on her face in weeks.

Ranma was coming back.

***********

In Nerima, in a small shrine on top of a hill, a temple maiden spoke for the first time in days.

"Ranma."

***********

Miles under the obsidian cylinder, the skeletal figure began to grow back lost flesh from the fires burning around him. As his body began to take on definition again, he lashed out with a fist that veritably glowed with power. It struck against the cool roof of his tomb. 

***********

High above in the grotto, the ground shook even further. 

And there, in the very center of the trembling cylinder of obsidian, a crack appeared.

__


	22. Ancient Powers

Ethan Frome __

Chapter Two: Ancient Powers

Many groups were interested in the obsidian cylinder that dominated the floor of the grove. Among them were mineral groups that simply wanted the rights to a cylinder of relatively pure obsidian. The scientific community wanted it because they were intrigued about the startling appearance of a large amount of obsidian suddenly occurring not only in an area where there was never any obsidian before but also miles away from any volcanic area which had been known to produce obsidian during their eruptions. 

The JSSDF wanted to experiment with it. No one really knew exactly what they meant by that, but they were the military after all.

And finally, but perhaps most important, the Senshi wanted it. Just not for the same reason. One of the main problems though wasn't the problem of digging it up and transporting it however. The problem was arriving at a consensus about what to do with it once they got it.

They were divided over the problem, in complete disarray. Rei wanted nothing more by to leave it where it was, seeing it as a fitting monument to what she had done, though she didn't say that out loud. Usagi didn't really want to do any digging, but once they got it up, she wanted to let the cats have it. A fact which Rei was adamantly against on all counts. 

Ami was like the scientific community. She was simply fascinated by the sudden, apparently natural occurrence of the relatively rare crystalline substance. However, unlike the scientific community, she wasn't anywhere near as certain that it was entirely natural. A certain suspicion against all things which suddenly appeared lurked with in her azure head.

Minako and Makoto tried to stay remarkably neutral on the entire subject. They didn't want to make Rei furious with them by siding with the cats. And yet, they didn't want to cause Usagi to be saddened by obviously siding with Rei against her. Personally, they didn't see what the big fuss was about. 'It was just a rock after all', to quote Minako.

The Outer Senshi were nearly as divided as the Inner over the matter.

Haruka firmly wanted to destroy the thing as a possible threat to the solar system. Michiru stood behind her partner in the matter. And Hotaru, though never consulted as it was assumed that she'd go with her adoptive parents on the matter, really wanted nothing more than to find out why it felt alive to her. Not evil, or dangerous, just simply alive.

And then there was Setsuna. The Guardian of the Time Gate had to be stopped several times from taking the cylinder to the Gate on several occasions. No one could tell why she wanted it. She just did. And every time she was forced to stop she seemed a bit more angry. Though that was probably a gigantic understatement.

Finally, a stalemate was reached. Usagi, in an attempt to patch over the troubles with their friendship, decided to adopt a wait-and-see policy. Given an option they could take without creating a massive problem, Minako and Makoto stood behind her on her decision. As they were no longer going to disturb the cylinder, Rei no longer had any problem with their choice of action. Ami didn't really want to leave it be, but she didn't really need to dig it up in order to do tests on the substance. 

The Outers eventually fell into line, after a while. Though Haruka still wanted to blow it up for the most part. Only Setsuna had a real problem with the matter.

It was because of her and, in some small part, the other interested groups, that the Senshi as a whole decided to guard it in person. At any given time there was anywhere from one to four at the grotto around the cylinder, which kept away most intruders. Though they still found themselves periodically being forced to repulse an attempt from Setsuna.

But the most unique thing that occurred was the fact that despite all of the people around it. Despite the guard. Despite everything. 

No one had noticed the Crack.

***********

"Moshi moshi. Tendo Residence." Kasumi answered the phone with her typically deceptively cheerful voice and manner.

"Hello, Tendo-san. I'm sorry to bother you, but is there anyway that I may speak with Tendo Akane?" the voice on the other end answered. 

It was a feminine voice and very lovely. Kasumi, of course, assumed that it was one of Akane's friends.

"Akane-chan?" she called up the stairs. "A young lady wishes to speak with you."

"One moment, Kasumi. I'll be right down." Her voice sound sad, tired. Kasumi frowned for a moment at the voice, but then visibly brightened again as she realized that she sounded much better than she had for the past several days.

Akane padded down the stairs and accepted the receiver from her elder sister with a wan smile. "Arigoto, Kasumi-chan." She murmured, before raising the phone to her ear. "Hai. This is Akane." 

"Akane-san? You don't know me, but I'm a friend of Ranma's." For a moment, Akane felt the familiar old anger and jealousy try to raise its emerald head in her. Then it was squashed down by the responding surge of worry that she felt as she realized how unlikely it was that someone was calling about Ranma. 

"H-hai?" Her voice was shaky, but she managed to keep steady.

"Listen. I have to tell you something about Ranma. It's important, so please don't get mad and hang up. Ranma told me once that you tend to do things like that, so please don't." The voice on the other end sounded rushed, like she was trying to get everything out before anything could happen.

"Hai. I'm listening." Akane responded after taking a deep, calming breath.

"Something happened to Ranma. Don't explode or anything. We just don't know where he is. His cousin asked that we call you. She said that you might be able to help find him."

There was a long pause as Akane let everything sink in. After awhile the voice spoke again.

"So, will you come?"

'Will I go?' Akane found herself asking herself. 'I know I promised Ranma that I would stay away, but he's in trouble. I know he is.' 

A strange voice that sounded a bit like Ranma's only older, maybe a bit wiser, and far more smart-alecky popped up suddenly in response to her internal thought. '*Hey! What's all this all of a sudden?! I thought you didn't like him!*'

'I like him! I just don't like how he treats me! Besides, I owe him at the very least for all the times he's saved me.'

'*Good to see you coming to your senses at last. I've been saying you liked him for a long, long time.*' The voice sounded very, very smug at that. 'So are you going or not?'

"Of course I am!" she suddenly spoke out loud. Realizing what she had done, she looked around nervously, but there was no one in sight. For a moment, she tried to figure out what that had been about.

"Good. We'll be waiting for you." Then with a click the voice on the other end of the line was gone.

'That... that was wierd...' 

***********

Two days later found Rei and Akane meeting for the first time face to face in their mutual lifetime. 

"You're Ranma's cousin? Wow. I was expecting someone a little bit more... small, I think."

"You're Ranma's fiancée?" Rei replied, in an off-hand fashion. "I was expecting someone a bit more... armed, I think." 

For a time the two stared at each other. 

Then, for the first time since Ranma had gone absent from their lives, their lips turned up into smiles and they laughed.

"It's good to meet you, Akane." Rei shook the other girl's hand firmly.

"And you, Rei." The two smiled at each other, much to the shock of everyone watching. 

It just wasn't like Rei to take to someone so rapidly. Nor was it particularly Akane's technique either. So the fact that they took to each other as they did surprised most everyone except them. 

They would be good friends. They just knew it. They didn't know how they knew it, but they knew it was true.

***********

The troupe trooped all over Nerima with Akane at the forefront searching for the missing boy. They went in warehouses. Out across rooftops. Down into sewers. 

"You know, I almost wish that Ryouga hadn't decided to stop fighting with Ranma for whatever reason. He would be able to find him." Akane murmured, gesturing at the map held before her. 

"Who's Ryouga?" questioned a curious Minako. "Ranma's mentioned him before in passing, but he never said much beyond them being friends."

"Ryouga's a great guy. Strong, loyal, trustworthy. He just had a really bad temper. And he tends to hold a grudge for a long time, too." Akane explained, staring up at the sky as she remembered. "I first met him when he wanted to fight with Ranma. He just showed up out of the blue and challenged him to a fight then and there. Ranma didn't even remember him. They were friends, I guess. Maybe. They were always fighting. Always. They even fought when they were getting along. Maybe there was just something about Ranma that told him to fight with his friends, I don't know." She shrugged, and turned to the girls. "Then, one day, something bad happened and.. and I almost died. Then, Ryouga left and never came back. I haven't seen him since."

She sighed and leaned back against a convenient wall. "I kind of miss him. He was my friend too." 

At that moment a buff young man in camouflage gear suddenly landed in the center of the road in front of them. His olive green parachute floated slowly to the ground behind him. He looked around slowly and smiled.

"Japan. I'm home at last." He whispered, then turned and started gathering up his parachute.

Akane looked at the sight and blinked. The other girls were doing the same, but Akane had a different reason.

"Ryouga?" She pushed off her wall and walked over to him. "Ryouga is that you?" 

He straightened and turned to look at her. "Yes. Yes that's me. Can I help you, Ms.. Akane?" 

"Ryouga! It's been so long! How are you?" she crowed, throwing her arms around his neck and giving him a fierce hug. 

"Better. Much better, now that I'm back on my home turf." He replied, hugging her back then setting her down.

"Everybody, I want you to meet Ryouga! This is who I was telling you about. Ryouga, I want you to meet... well, everybody..." 

After introductions had been offered all around, they crowded into a nearby cafe to find out what was going on. 

***********

"Ryouga, what happened? You were gone so long."

"I hopped a ride to Europe and spent some time traveling around. Seeing the sights. I had to get away so I could clear my mind."

"Seeing the sights? You? I would have thought that someone with your little problem had already seen all the sights." 

"What? My getting lost?" He didn't even mention the pig problem. 

"Well... yeah. What happened?"

He shrugged. "I stopped getting lost. Turned out it was me that was getting me lost."

All the other girls exchanged a sort of 'no, duh' expression amongst themselves.

He smiled, definitely used to that reaction. "Akane, do you remember how I was always so angry at Ranma?" When he got no response he continued. "Well, I was. I was always angry at him, despite the fact that he had helped me out so much. And I was always chasing after him while I was blinded by that anger. Turns out, that's why I couldn't find my way. Blind rage."

Ami's expression was interested, but Akane and the other's looked more like totally disbelief. 

"So, I took some time, sat myself down and tried to seriously figure out why I was so damn mad." He shrugged. "It took some time to work it all through. But I managed. Turns out, Ranma never really did anything that should have made me mad at him as far as I can remember."

Akane looked at him like he was nuts. "What about the bread feud? You challenged him to a duel over that. Then you got mad cause he didn't fight with you."

"The bread was stupid. Sure, he got it before I did, but he also shared it with me everyday. And the duel was a bad idea from the start, but getting mad because he didn't wait a week was childish. I mean, he did wait a lot longer than I would have. But, anyways, I'm over that now. Wanting to kill him isn't really in me anymore. Besides. I already saw him die once."

"What?!" The entire group was screaming at him, but he ignored them to stare at where his hands were folded on the table top.

"He died that day at the cursed pools. Maybe it wasn't a physical death, but he definitely died. Spiritually maybe. Then you came back and it was all alright again. Ranma was back." He sighed. "I came back to apologize to him and the others. But I'm not ready to face him yet. I'm heading back to Juuban. Maybe the others will talk to me." He stood suddenly and pushed his chair in. Swinging his pack back up onto his back he strode from the cafe without even bothering to say good-bye.

"He'll be back." Akane whispered as she watched him go. "He still has to talk to Ranma."

***********

The search had been exhausting, but it finally ended in the one place they hadn't searched yet. The park. In a small, out of the way clearing where people went when they wanted peace and solitude. 

***********

Akane rushed to the cylinder, ignoring all around her and fell upon it's once more still though cracked surface. 

"Ranma!" she cried, as she curled upon the six foot wide surface smooth of all but the Crack tracing down the center. 

As she laid upon the center of the disk, a single tear trekked its way down her face and slowly dripped off her cheek to land with a splash upon the glass-like surface. It traced its salty path over a slight ledge to fall down deep into the earth through the medium of the Crack.

***********

Deep within the bowels of the earth, the human figure which lay entombed under the obsidian cylinder had grown still again. The fires raged about him as he lay there. However, he no longer thrashed. No longer raged against his imprisonment. No longer sought to free himself. 

Then a single droplet of slightly salty liquid trickled its way free of the long cylinder by way of the Crack. It fell down and dropped with a splash upon the being's face.

And the being stirred. 

And began to shift. 

He reached upwards, placed his hands upon the cylinder.

And pushed.

***********

High above the being in the nadir of the earth, Akane suddenly scrambled back off of the disk as the cylinder trembled again. 

And began to rise upwards out of the ground.


	23. New Soul, Reborn Soul, Ancient Soul

Chapter 23 __

Part Eight: New Soul, Reborn Soul, Ancient Soul

Akane refused to leave the grove. 

No one could reason with her. She point blank refused to budge. 

And the cylinder rose higher.

***********

The being had only one thought raging through its mind as it heaved against the glass ceiling of its tomb.

'Akane.'

***********

As the battle raged below between one being and its prison, a far different battle raged above.

For a strange tetrad of alien beings had arrived in the grove and one had managed to land upon Akane, making her rather mad, but doing little else productive in the process.

Akane's reaction was predicable, if slightly odd.

Her eyes burned with a fiery light and a sapphire aura so bright it registered on the visible spectrum sprang up around her as she shoved the creature that had landed on her off of her and headfirst into the obsidian cylinder rising out of the ground. 

"Ka KA!" The annoying brown creature with the oddly disfigured head protrubance screamed, just before slamming headfirst into the crystalline substance. It succeeded in making a rather nasty visual demonstration about the physics question of what happens when unstoppable force meets immovable object. Apparently, the unstoppable force tends to crush whatever its holding into little gooey pieces.

"Po!" hollered another of the beings, hurling itself towards Akane. 

She reacted by launching one of her full-force, no-holds-barred, gonna-reduce-that-obstacle-to-its-component-atoms, block-breaker punch at its head. Her sapphire aura clung tenaciously to her fist, giving it the impression of being engulfed in flames. The Po creature eeped and suddenly disappeared only to reappear behind her. It then began singing. "Lalalaaa!"

At the sound of that disturbing mumbling, Akane whirled around and Kuno-punted it into the upper stratosphere. 

Meanwhile, the girls had scurried off in mock fear and transformed so they could remerge as the fearless Senshi of Love and Justice. 

The effect was immediately ruined when Sailormoon suddenly exclaimed over how cute the two remaining aliens were. Especially the one with the purse. 

Then the one with the lewd phallic symbol on the top of its head launched itself at Sailorjupiter. Who, being the tallest one in the group, had a very unsettling sight of that particular phallic object heading under her skirt. Thus she began screaming and racing around the grove trying to get away from the 'Hentai-fucking-alien!'.

Finally, Sailorvenus launched herself at the 'mad-tentacle-beast' and managed to knock it over. It immediately curled itself into a small ball and began stroking its head protrubance. Which caused Sailorjupiter to become even more perturbed by it. Thus it found itself hurtling through the air at an extremely high rate of speed, soon even passing its companion in space as it flashed by propelled by the force of a Senshi's boot.

The last alien was remarkably easy to get rid of. It simply watched as the phallic beast was rocketed into space and started jumping up and down trying to go after the other one.

Sailormoon took pity on it after listening to its whimpering cries for several minutes and proceeded to boot its ass after the first one.

Sailormercury had been working hurriedly at her palmtop computer throughout the entire battle. At the present, she sighed and closed her computer as she looked up with a mixture of disgust, worry, and relief painted across her face.

"I know what those were." She started without preamble. "They're from an insidious race of beings from a distant star system that come and infect every race on a planet with a disease that effectively renders a body absolutely mindless. Thus the planets are ripe for takeover. Did you notice the silver screens in the area of their stomachs?" At Akane and the other girls nods, she continued. "Those are what cause the spread of this beguiling disease. Though we really don't know how they work. What we do know is what they are called. Those are what is known as 'Tellytubbies'. That looked like a scout force, so we had best keep an eye out for more. Most assault forces have four members. We only saw two."

"Let's just hope that was the last of them, shall we?" A red-faced Sailorjupiter added, smoothing at her skirt.

"Definitely." Sailormercury acceded. "We do not want 'Tellytubbies' on OUR planet. For then, we'd be doomed for sure!"

"Hey, where's Akane?" Sailorvenus interrupted, looking for the other girl. Quickly, they detransformed as quietly as possible and went looking. 

They found her around on the other side of the cylinder that had by now risen to the point where it was able to hide her from sight. She was scrubbing at the disgusting remains that stained the column. 

"Blessed Kami! What is that!" Rei exclaimed, pointing at the mess that was smeared all over the obsidian surface. 

"One of those creatures that was here a moment ago." Akane responded dully, still scrubbing at the mess.

"Akane! Did you do all this?" Ami was in shock at the amount of damage. Never before in her history as a Senshi had she ever seen a creature blown into quite so many ... pieces. As she realized what she was looking at, Ami hurried away to lose her lunch in the bushes.

The other girls looked decidedly pale and green when Akane nodded her head slowly.

"I made such a mess of Ranma's marker." She whispered, still scrubbing away at the steadily rising column. "I should have been more careful."

***********

Deep beneath their feet, the being had managed to shove the roof so far away from the floor that he now managed to stand upright. Slowly, he forced his arms straight above him, hoisting the ceiling up another good foot and a half from the ground. Lowering his arms, he looked up at the ceiling as if to ensure that it wouldn't fall.

Then he crouched down upon the ground and the fire swirled tight about his form.

Suddenly, he leapt straight up, one fist outstretched before him in his flight. 

The fist struck the glass canopy quite firmly.

***********

Akane stared confusedly as first the column stopped moving. Soon afterward though the ground begin to shudder and shake and the column issued a terrible rumbling from beneath itself. Then her eyes widened appreciatively as she rapidly cleared away from the column. 

"Everybody! Back! Get back!" she yelled, racing into the relative shelter of the nearby trees. 

At her words, everyone raced away from the column. 

Suddenly the column shuddered and shook even more fiercely than before.

Then with a great explosion, it issued fully from the ground in a massive gout of flame and air pressure. Two full miles worth of obsidian suddenly blasted out of the ground and vanished into space. 

What was left in its place was a hole that lead downwards over two miles. The edges of the pit were fused into glass from the heat of whatever had caused the obsidian to form. 

Then a dim light registered at the distant bottom of the pit. Slowly it grew brighter. A slow pulsing caused it to flicker. 

And it gained speed. Slowly at first, but soon faster and faster, the flickering emerged from the pit like a strobe.

Akane and the others crept forward from their hiding spaces to peer down into the pit. They watched almost hypnotized as the light flashed faster and faster and brighter with every passing second.

Then they became aware of a sound. Like the roaring of a 747 it echoed up from the depths. With a timbre not unlike the fierce warcry of a lion, it resounded from every tree to fling itself even higher into space.

The sound grew steadily louder as they listened. Ami was the one that suddenly connected the light with the sound, only seconds before Akane made the same connection. Almost as one they stepped back from the edge. 

"Doppler effect, everyone." Ami explained almost conversationally. "The light, strobe effect, and sound is getting respectively brighter, faster, and louder."

Usagi stared at her in total non-comprehension. 

Akane yelled the explanation as Ami just sighed. "It's getting closer, Usagi-san! Move away from edge!" 

Everyone scurried back just in time.

For at that moment a torrent of flame came hurtling out of the mouth of the pit accompanied by the wild roar they had been hearing.

As the stared in disbelief, the flame hung in midair for a second then, almost unbelievably, spread outwards. 

They looked on as gigantic wings composed of twin infernos of massive proportions unfurled to hang over the grove in light it to an almost incandescent hue. 

And there, in between the monstrous wings, depending from them, was the one they were searching for. It was from his throat that issued the glorious sound. Then it grew softer, gentler, and they understood the cry.

One name held forth through most magnificent resonance to glorify all existence. "AKANE!" Or rather, the name of that one which one man held to such esteem that the mere thought of her could inspire in him such grand feats of strength, skill, and endurance that he could accomplish anything. 

As it was, Ranma looked down and saw the girls. His face for once bore all the expressions of his heart upon his features. 

As he looked upon Ami, his face was open and caring, as for a true friend. His eyes fell upon Usagi and a strange loyalty blossomed in his expression. With Makoto a great onrushing of pride. Minako saw a mischievous side that masked great pain and sorrow. Rei could only see the sad betrayal in his eyes and refused to see the enduring endearment that accompanied it as she rushed off into the undergrowth.

Then he finally spotted Akane, and it was as if someone had given a child their fondest desire. His eyes glowed with pleasure. His lips curled upwards into a smile. He veritably radiated his joy at seeing her again. 

"Akane." He whispered, though she heard. 

He held out his arms to her as he hung above the hole. She smiled happily and ran and leapt towards him. She hovered over empty space for a second.

And suddenly fell.


	24. Reborn Shape

Part Nine: New Shape __

Part Nine: New Shape

Chapter One: Reborn Shape

Akane hurtled down past Ranma's outstretched arms into the almost comforting embrace of the darkness that he had emerged from. For eons and forever she fell down. Gravity sending her crashing downwards through the two miles to the very depths of Ranma's long confinement.

But she didn't know that.

And so she merely fell.

Ever downwards.

Forever and all eternity.

The great Goddess Who Falls.

***********

The sight of Akane falling snapped Ranma out of the strange half-awareness that he had been trapped in since falling down after being struck by Mars' Fire Soul Bird. His last memory suddenly roared its way to the forefront of his brain with the blazing fury of a runaway locomotive. Pain flared up incandescently bright in his mind as his body began convulsing from the memory. 

His wings flickered rapidly, fluctuating in strength, color, and length and guttering wildly. Just before the vanished entirely, his head shot backwards and his mouth opened in a wordless scream of agony and two beams of the most brilliant light any of the Senshi had ever seen before shot from his eyes into the night sky. Then the wings broke free of his back with a hideous sound of rending flesh and bone and fused with the soil that surrounded the gaping maw of the pit to form a new seal on the hole. He landed hard upon the seal and immediately curled about himself as tight as he could manage screaming the entire while. 

"Burning! I'm burning!" was all that the girls could make out, though he was obviously not burning at all. Usagi and the others stared in disbelief at his convulsing figure. Rei, on the other hand, fell back in horror, the terrible secret that she had been keeping so close to her heart suddenly tearing its way out into the light.

Without having a complete grasp of what was going on, the girls saw little option before them but to transform. They didn't know why he was acting like he was. And given the amazing display they had witnessed not even two minutes ago, they didn't feel like risking the chance that it could possibly be a youma influencing him and trying to catch them unawares. After the attack of the Tellytubbies, they were willing to see horror in anything.

Finally, in response to his painfilled shrieks, Mercury used her control over ice to chill the air around him significantly. Unfortunately, she didn't know about his little "condition" like Mars did. As the super-heated air around him suddenly found itself chilled significantly in an extremely short period of time, the tiny particles of water in the air around him condensed and begin to fall upon him in a icy cold personal rain cloud. 

As they watched in alarm, his muscular frame suddenly shrank to a third of its original size almost as if in slow motion from fighting with the heat still lurking around it. His arms and legs became thinner and shorter. His waist dwindled surprisingly fast considering how long it was taking the rest of him. His chest alone stayed prominent as the rest of his body apparently caved in on itself.

Then, as his hair slowly took on a carmine hue in a languid wave, they came to a very startled and abrupt, though varied, realization. Mars' eyes filled with tears as she recognized the small woman-child form her strange dreams who had disappeared so abruptly so long ago around the same time as an extremely nasty courtier had. Moon, Venus, Mercury, and Jupiter on the other hand had an extremely different reaction, especially since they recognized her from an earlier battle that month in the same grotto.

As much as their reaction varied, however, they were all forced to the same conclusion. The time was wrong for thought, for the time was for battle.

The red-headed girl on the seal lifted her head languidly from her curled position on the slab. Casually, she twisted about until her sapphire eyes locked with the ring of young women on the skirt of the grove. She pushed herself up from the block with a bonelessly fluid sort of grace. 

Never breaking eye contact with them, she coolly shook out her arms and legs and twisted her neck from side to side, causing her body to emit sharp cracks of bones snapping into place. Reaching down, she idly adjusted the sash of her baggy pants. Then she reached up with one thin hand and brushed her carmine bangs out of her face. Finally, her ruby lips parted and she spoke with a voice sweeter than any song.

"You harmed my Ojisama." She whispered softly, her eyelids slowly dipping shut over those accusing orbs as she spoke. "I cannot abide any who would harm my Ojisama. For that crime, you must die!" 

Then her eyes flashed open again. This time glowing with a startling emerald fire, she leapt towards them with a wild snarl of rage. Her tapered fingers hooked into feral claws as she charged. 

She was a whirlwind of pain as she landed among them. Calling not only upon the abilities granted by Ranma's extensive martial training but also upon an almost esoteric style of fighting that seemed to be at once the unpredictable flickering of fire and the untamable rage of the wild beast, she fought. She was all fluid grace and energy. At any given point she would seem to be in at least two places at once. And always the emerald fire clung tenaciously to her body. 

Jupiter and Venus fought to the utter extremes of their abilities. They used everything they had at their beck and call to protect their princess. Every single technique that had ever been learned in or out of their sacred uniform was summoned, and quickly laid to rest. All of the strange and mystical powers at their command had been exhausted. 

From time to time, as they fought two on one against the diminutive young girl, a strange glowing rod would appear in her hands to either deflect their launched attacks away from her or to deliver painful strikes upon their persons. For a short time they thought that it was like Venus' stolen chain, then it would alter shape and color and that particular pattern of thinking was abandoned. Finally, after an arduous battle, they were reduced to flinging themselves bodily upon the raging beast and attempting to subdue her through grappling techniques. 

That had to have been the worst possible mistake they could have made in the entire battle. For in doing so, they threw themselves upon the tender ministrations of one who could easily be called the Grandmaster of her Art. And that Art was known formally as the Saotome School of Indiscriminate Grappling after all. Even if a great many people, who shall remain nameless, preferred to refer to it as the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts, it was still at its heart, a school of grappling techniques and aerial maneuvers. 

Thus did the one of the best hand-to-hand combatants of the Senshi and the very leader of the Inner find themselves idly discarded by the skillful techniques of a diminutive girl, little more than a child. It was at that point that Mercury chose to act in the better part of valor and quickly cloaked the entire grove in a dense fog. She knew from experience that she didn't have what it took to go after that particular girl in the arena of hand-to-hand when the girl WASN'T extremely pissed off. She had no intention of finding out it she was any better when the girl WAS. 

"I know you are there!" The mysterious girl called out. "Do not think for an instant that I cannot find you in your little cloud, Amilia-hime! It will not stop me!" 

Hidden in the cloudbank, frozen in the very act of fleeing to gain aid from the more powerful Outer Senshi, Mercury stood statuelike in confusion and terror that the girl was right. She knew the name! The name that Mercury had not told anyone! The name from the dream!

Sudden bursts of emerald flames blasted at the fogbank, causing it to drift slowly away. As Mercury stood so close yet so far away from the edge of the trees that would have concealed her madcap flight to were the Outer Senshi waited she could see them, she could feel the rays of the full moon's light trickling down upon the pale skin of her arms. A single tear trickled down her face as she realized that the light of the moon was a omen of terrible portent instead of the harbinger of justice that it had so oft been in the past. 

Then a slender hand fell upon her shoulder and she nearly sobbed in her desperation. Slowly, she turned about to face her attacker that had no doubt already dispatched of Mars and her princess. The face her eyes met was not the horribly disfigured mask of hatred, disgust, and madness that it had been. Instead the expression it displayed were those of confusion mixed with a strange sense of betrayal barely overlying a raging undercurrent of fury. And as Mercury glanced past her, she saw that the fog was still dense in all other parts of the clearing but the one they stood in.

"Why, Amilia-hime?" the girl asked. "Why did you betray Shima-sama? He trusted you. You were his friend_! How could you betray him?" There was a bizarre touch of anguish in the softly musical voice.

"I-I don't know, Ranko!" Mercury sobbed, falling down to her knees as sudden and inexplicable grief welled up in her breast at Ranko's words. The name had come unbidden to Mercury's mind, but it seemed to fit perfectly. "I didn't know it was him! I didn't know!" 

"I cannot forgive you what you have done, Amilia-hime. Perhaps Shima-sama may in time. But, I cannot. I will leave you to his justice though. It was him that you betrayed." 

Then she was gone. Disappeared back into the mists. Slowly, the thin sound of Jupiter and Venus's groans of pain filtered through the remaining fog to Mercury's ears. Then there was a horrible cracking sound that tore through the fog with the piercing echo of a siren's wail. Soon after there was the massive thud of something extremely heavy slamming into the ground followed by a dim echo through the grassy surface. 

***********

Akane fell. 

She didn't know how long she fell. Or why. Or even where she was falling to. She just knew she was falling. 

She remembered another time when she fell like she was falling. That time was different though. Ranma had been with her. She had been able to feel his strong arms about her as they hurtled down to their eminent demise. This time though, she was completely alone. 

And she fell.

Though now she thought she could possibly see the bottom. 

The fire that flickered there looked hot.

Very hot indeed.

***********

When the fog finally cleared away, thanks no doubt to the flaming efforts of Mars and the multitude of Fireballs she launched into the air, Ranko was long gone. And so was the seal that had been covering the Pit. All that was left was the splintered remains of the once massive slab. 

Jupiter lay where she had landed after having been flung across the clearing with an almost contemptuous ease by the tiny girl. Massive amounts of bruises covered her body, blood trickled from her nose, split lip and a varied number of relatively small but plentiful cuts and abrasions. Other than that though, she was fine. 

Venus was in worse shape. In addition to the numerous cuts and bruises, Ranko had managed to tear through the protective body armor provided by their senshi uniforms in more than one place. As a result, Venus was suffering from not only being slammed painfully into a tree after being flung away, but also from three cracked, if not outright broken, ribs and a nasty laceration across her back. 

Moon was doing the best off everyone. If being tangled in the upper branches of the tallest tree in the grotto could be considered good, that is. She had managed to get off with just being stuck up there and not actually beaten though. 

Mars was rather confusing. She didn't appear to have any injuries aside from a stray bruise here and there that could have been obtained during the Tellytubby attack earlier. However, other than her assistance in clearing away the fog, she had neither moved nor spoke beyond violently shuddering where she curled against the base of a large log that had been felled during the battle.

Mercury was the one moving shakily about the clearing with the assistance of the newly arrived Uranus, Neptune and Saturn trying to get everything back into an orderly fashion. Pluto was no where to be found, and neither were the cats. But no one had really expected them to show up. 

Besides, the cats were never around when it came to cleaning up the mess that came after any of their battles. They claimed it was because they would just be in the way, but the girls were beginning to think it was because they were lazy. Pluto was just plain rarely around since they had awakened to their duties. She spent much more time at the Gates then she did on Earth it seemed.

It took them the better part of an hour, but the three Outer Senshi working in concert with the younger Inner Senshi eventually did manage to put the grove back to a semblance of how it had been before. It wasn't perfect. But then, it never could be with the launch of the obsidian column that had marked Ranma's return from the depths of the Earth and the subsequent fall of Akane and the Senshi's royal butt-kicking ceremony at the hands of the woman-child called Ranko by Mercury.

They had done the best they could. It wasn't like anyone was expecting perfection. Not even from them.

***********

Akane still fell.

Yet now she was not alone. 

There was another with her. A familiar, somewhat comforting presence. At once the essence she wanted to be with her, and yet different at the same time. 

Soft arms wrapped themselves around her stomach just below her breasts. A tiny shape compared to her own bulk nestled against her. Elfin lips beside her ear whispered softly.

"Do not worry, Akai-hime. It will be alright." The soft voice whispered. "Shima is waiting for us." 

And they fell no longer alone.

For eternity downwards.

And when they reached the bottom, they burned.

***********

AUTHOR'S NOTE: For those who are curious, the comment about the Goddess Who Falls is from the book The Legend of the Blue Crown. Or it might be Hero and the Crown. Or something like that. It's been a while since I read it. But I remembered the little comment about being the Goddess Who Falls from when the heroine was falling down through time as the evil tower crumbled around her. Before that she was the Goddess Who Climbs because she felt that she was climbing for eternity, just because there were a LOT of stairs.

And if you're curious as to what music I was listening to in order to cause this chaos, it was a CD entitled 'Up From The Ashes' by Don Dokken. And may I add that I find it is the perfect CD for the Phoenix Prince. Not only is the title simply perfect, but the songs are great too! I really recommend it if you like rock! (It's hard rock, I think...) 


	25. Ancient Shape

Chapter 25 __

Chapter Two: Ancient Shape

The Senshi had more trouble on their hands now. Not only was Saotome Ranma missing, but Akane was gone too. At least, they figured, they knew where they were this time.

But as they peered down the gaping maw of the Pit, they couldn't help but feel more than a little bit intimidated. After all, they had watched Ranma rise from that great depth in a fiery rebirth. They had all heard the tales of the Neriman Legends by that time. And, maybe worst of all, they had been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt to be completely ineffective when it came to fighting Ranma's other half, given the name Ranko by Mercury.

The struggle had been odd in the extreme. For not only had Ranko completely outclassed them in most cases, but Jupiter and Venus had a queasy feeling that they might not have gone all out like they thought they had. As they looked back over the battle, they could spot several wide openings that had formed in Ranko's defensive shield in various points. Yet, neither one ever took any advantage of the openings, despite having noticed them.

It was as if they knew her. And not only simply knew her, but wished her no harm. Above and beyond even that, they somehow knew that she could have killed them without much more effort than she had expended against them, and possibly even less. 

Yet, she hadn't bothered to even severely maim them when she had the chance. Suddenly, it dawned on them that she was possibly holding back her full abilities as well. 

That was quite possibly the most frightening idea of all.

***********

Miles below, there existed a quite extensive cavernous system that culminated in a single massive chamber with walls fused into glass from an extreme source of heat which had once blasted its way through the land, leaving the system in its wake. It was towards that chamber that Ranko lead Akane. Through tortuous twists and down innumerable side tunnels they traveled. 

At one point they were forced to slip through a gigantic slab of raw iron by way of a narrow steel door. Further down, they found themselves scaling a sheer cliff face marked with fist sized pocks in its glassy surface. They swam through a torrential underground river of water so cold that steam billowed off of them as they emerged shivering on the other side. 

They pushed and pulled their way through the shattered remains of monumental golems that had been rent by mighty forces in eons past. Busted their way through two or three stone seals. And finally came upon an ornate door that seemed so strangely out of place in the dark subterraneous realm. 

***********

Ranko strode forward with a smile. Her delicate hand brushed gently along the well oiled surface as she leaned against it. After a short period of time, she straightened and turned back to Akane. 

"Through here." She whispered. "This is the door that will take you to him who you have searched for." Then she stepped aside to allow Akane access to the door.

Akane stepped forward with a lightness in her step that had not been seen in days. As she laid her hand upon the golden handle though, she paused and looked to where Ranko stood to the side.

"Are you coming?" 

"Who? Me?" Ranko chuckled softly, and reached out to lay a reassuring hand on Akane's outstretched arm. "No. It is not my place to go for him, Akai-hime. I must remain without."

Akane's face screwed up in puzzlement. "Why do you keep calling me that? My name's Akane, not Akai, and I'm not any princess."

"You may be Akane now. But once your name was Akai and you were a princess. Someday, it may even be true once more. Now, go to the one who awaits you." And with that, Ranko lowered her hand to her side and stepped back, vanishing into the shadows as if she had never been there at all.

Akane was mightily disquieted by that particular turn of events. As it was, she not only didn't know how to get back through the maze that Ranko had guide her through, but was also filled with a great sense of curiosity about the mysterious door before her. And as quite often occurred with Akane, curiosity won again.

She turned the handle with a trepidation born of long emersion is the strange and ungodly. One does not become involved in battles with gods and whatnot with out becoming understandably wary. And one such as Akane who had been the object of kidnapping in Nerima so often was also paranoid to the extreme. 

Thus did the door open, with no great excess of speed and yet no notable amount of creaking emanating from the age-old hinges. Akane stood in disbelief as the portal slowly revealed what it once had held hidden. 

Within the ancient doorway was a vast cavern that bore neither touch of man nor that of nature. It was a smoothly hollowed emptiness in the center of the Earth. Lustrously polished walls glistened onyx-dark in a perfectly hollowed globe of existence. Light flickered and danced in reflection from the bonfire that roared in the epicenter of the chamber. The appearance was dazzling, like nothing so much as the most brilliant of lights being filtered through the largest, most perfect diamond in all of existence. 

But that awe-inspiring sight was not what tugged at the scarred strings of the young spitfire of the Tendo clan. Though the beauty was beyond any that mortal eyes had touched upon before, her eyes averted from the surrounding sheen to prostrate themselves before the alter of divineness that stood in the center of the bonfire yet remained unharmed.

He was unparalleled perfection in appearance before her biased eyes. Long, glossy, sable hair cascaded down his wiry muscular back in a way that would make Fabio jealous. His scarred shoulders squared back against some unknown force. His long, lithe legs, encased in his ever present black velvet pants, stood braced against the two main logs that made up the fierce heat of the bonfire. 

Finally, he turned to look at her with a smile that alit the fires his deep black orbs anew. He stepped from the fire towards her his arms outstretched to her. Though the flames clung tenaciously yet to his form, Akane found herself racing across the slick surface of the room to his arms. 

"Litte daughter. How I have missed you." A soft voice whispered in the musical tones of a sweet child. Long, tapered fingers gently curled under her chin and caused her to raise her face to look into his. 

She knew that he was not Ranma. Ranma had never bore the very essence of perfection about him. Ranma was confident and arrogant, to be sure, but he was far from perfect. And he rarely seemed to truly believe that he was perfect like so many of the other guys she had met in her life seemed to be. He was merely confident in what he could do and arrogant because he was simply as good as he often thought. It was pride that guided his life. Pride and honor. 

This man, who though similar in appearance, was definitely not Ranma. Which was not to say that this man did not possess great pride, or honor or bear overbearing confidence and arrogance within his exquisite frame, of course. For simply the way in which he held himself so like Ranma spoke volumes about his confidence and pride. 

But, despite the fact that he was not, per say, the man that she had believed that she was looking for, she had found within him the man that perhaps she should have been looking for. The strict father figure that she could not find in her own biological parent. And at the same time, the tender mercy of a mother that she had never truly known. 

As these and many other thoughts soaked into Akane's mind she found that she could not hold her fiercely tight leash on her emotions any longer. And slowly her silent tears transformed into open sobs as she clutched at the man who held her in his arms so gently. He was so like Ranma, and yet so fundamentally different that made all the world stop for a time and take note. 

Ranma had held her in his arms so few times that she would often wonder if, perhaps, she had imagined the whole thing. Sometimes she had the distinct impression that maybe, just maybe, the front they put up before their fathers was not actually a front at all. Sometimes she found it so hard to believe that Ranma could ever care for someone like her. 

And then, he would turn around and smile that beautiful smile of his that could brighten the entire day, no matter what happened. Or he would do something so nice that she found all trace of pessimistic thoughts about their relationship, or lack thereof, drifting away on the winds. Or maybe he would just be there for her when she needed someone and didn't have anyone to turn to. She always knew that when she needed him, he would be there, no matter what. He would rouse the cavalry and come charging in as always. The handsome knight in shining armor upon his charger. 

Somehow, though, she found herself longing for Ranma to come in and take him away from this strange, yet familiar, parental figure and simply hold her in his arms and never let her go. Yet, she knew that that was just an idle fantasy. Never in her wildest dreams did she actually believe that Ranma would ever do something like that for her. She may have known how terribly much he cared about her, still and all he was Ranma. And Ranma was still so much a little boy on the inside. And little boys just did not do that kind of thing. 

Which made her sob all that much harder into the powerful chest of the man who held her.

***********

Some distance away, outside the ornate door, Ranko had back tracked for a bit after leaving Akane at the door and had turned off into a side tunnel. Down that tunnel, she came upon a place in which there were two steaming hot pools of sparkling water. It was on the shores of the nearest one that she knelt and gazed into its crystalline depths.

And the face which gazed back at her was not her own. As well she knew it would not be. For the face which gazed back at her was that of he whose form she shared. 

She reached down with a gentle hand and lightly touched the surface of the water. Beneath her, a large callused palm mirrored her maneuver. She knew what it would mean to the man in the pool if she would simply throw herself in. The curse that bound them would be released and she would be never again with him, her first and foremost friend. 

For a moment, she stood and made as if to step into the hot pool, but the frantic gestures of her male reflection that moved so entirely out of sync with her own movements halted her forward motion. She crouched again beside the water's edge and gazed curiously into the water. The man that peered back wore an expression of pleading on his features. 

Slowly, as if with intensive effort, he raised one tapered finger to the undersurface of the water and traced one painstaking figure after another. 

"Do not." Ranko read quietly, then brought her own hand to the water's surface and traced another word in reply. 'Why?'

"Do not want you gone." She read again. Tears shimmered in her eyes and she gazed down upon the suddenly blurred surface. She quickly traced two words. 'Thank you.' 

The man smiled up at her with so much love and caring in his face that she found it hard to believe that one man could ever contain everything which he managed to hold within him. Then she rose from her crouch with a final wave into the pool and strode over to the next pool. 

Diving in to the comfortably heated pool, Ranko disappeared quickly within its crystalline depths. From the bottom of the pool in her place suddenly kicked her masculine counterpart. A quick adjustment to his suddenly too tight pants and Ranma hoisted himself bodily from the water. Excess liquid cascaded from his body in a sudden shower as he shook himself furiously.

Then he was gone racing down the tunnel that Ranko had so recently traced back towards the ornate door.

***********

AUTHOR'S NOTE: ;P I love cliffhangers! So, the question now is what's going to happen between Ranma and his doppelganger, eh? You have no idea how right you are. But, you're probably wrong in one idea. 

I don't think I'm gonna tell you what that idea is though. 

By the way, who thinks that I should keep listening to Don Dokken's 'Up From The Ashes' while I write this? It's what I've been listening to as I write for all of Part Nine.


	26. First Born

Book Four: Challenges

Book Four: Challenges

Part Ten: Elder Birth

Chapter One: First Born

Ranma raced down the twisting passages with a speed born of 

desperation. Somewhere in the murky distance Akane was in trouble. He

didn't know how he knew, or even why, he just knew. 

As he ran, in his hand his Ki Rod appeared and slowly shifted

in shape and color to an emerald katana. Somehow, he knew that a sword 

would be the best in the situation that he was headed towards, despite 

the fact that he was indifferent at best when it came to weapons 

training. He also felt that there should have been a different hilt 

nestled in his broad palm, but he just couldn't quite place why he 

felt that way. 

"AKANE!" He bellowed as he raced, darting down side passages

and up tunnels that he didn't quite know how he knew. 

***********

Ranma's bellow echoed dimly into the hollow globe of a room 

that held Akane and her mysterious companion in a wildly flickering 

grasp of a fierce pyre. Akane heard but barely. And yet that distantly 

stalwart voice wrapped its powerful wings protectively about her heart 

as its owner raced ever closer to where she stood. 

The very sound of his desperate voice soaring to her ears sent 

her heart thrilling. He was coming. Tears poured down her streaked 

face as she realized that he hadn't abandoned her. That he wouldn't 

ever abandon her.

"Ranma!" she called back, though her voice sounded weak even 

to her ears. 

She felt so incredibly weak and helpless. It wasn't something 

she was used to feeling. She had always felt that there was something 

she could do, no matter what happened. She could always help somehow.

Even when she was mummified by contact with the key during the battle 

with Saffron she had been able to defend Ranma.

Now, however, she couldn't do anything. She couldn't call him 

to her. And perhaps worst of all, she couldn't run to him. Her knees 

felt watery and no matter how fiercely she shoved against the sturdy 

limbs that held her tight, she could not escape the man's embrace. 

It was like her worst fears from when Ranma first appeared 

come hurtling back to her anew. And they were all true. Here was a 

man who could defeat her in combat, and unlike Ranma he held no 

computations against using that strength against a girl. 

When she looked timidly up into his face, her fears were 

confirmed all too well. Gone was the gentle expression of a parent

that had drawn her to him at first. That which replaced it was more 

dreadful than anything she had seen so far. 

A lecherous smirk dominated his features so like Ranma's. His 

dark eyes, not at all like the clear sapphire she so loved with Ranma, 

were narrowed with evil intent. She let out a thin whimper of terror 

as she began pummeling his chest ineffectively with her small fists in 

yet another attempt at escape. 

"Why do you seek to run, little one?" he asked, his once sweet 

voice having tumbled into a darker, more sinister realm. He laughed 

menacingly at her feeble attempts at evasion. "You know you desire 

this."

Then his head darted down like a eagle descending on its prey

and captured her terrified scream with his mouth as he locked his lips 

about hers. She struggled and pounded against him with all of her 

strength, but he just laughed. She couldn't help but feel betrayed, 

even though she knew it was not Ranma.

His dark laughter and a gout of guttering flame precluded 

their decent to the slick surface of the ground covered in gleaming 

coals. She cried out in pain as she felt the searing heat of the coals

burning through the thick wool of her red sweater into her back and 

ravaging the bare skin of her legs under her denim skirt. Her hair 

crackled and popped nauseatingly as it caught fire. 

He smirked down at her tear-stained face and drug a callused 

hand through the coals beside her head. Holding the coals up where 

she could just barely see them through the coals, he slowly allowed 

them to trickle through his fingers to strike the ground beside her

head and bounce back up to strike at her cheeks, leaving streaks of 

flesh glistening with burned tissue. 

"Enjoying yourself yet, little one?" He smirked at her 

maliciously.

Then he swooped down upon her yet again, stealing her breath 

away from her. One thick palm groped lustfully at her breasts through 

her sweater even as his other hand slipped under her skirt and 

squeezed hard at a place that no one had ever touched before. Tears 

bubbled anew from her eyes, boiling with the extreme heat and 

evaporating into steam before they could escape. 

She screamed for Ranma with every ounce of her mind. She begged

with to come and save her. To destroy this beast that sought to steal

her most precious belonging. Her most precious gift.

***********

Nearly a mile away, Ranma suddenly found the strength and 

energy to burst into another madcap dash down a straightaway. He had 

great endurance and physical stamina, but the past few weeks had 

taken a lot out of him without allowing him to recoup the losses. 

Racing through miles of twisting tunnels was beginning to wear heavily

upon him. 

Yet he felt an inexplicable force driving him on. He had to 

reach Akane. Before it was too late.

'Too late for what?' he wondered, even as he poured on another

burst of energy, drawing strength from some unknown fount of power.

He didn't know the answer but he kept pouring on the speed. 

Soon he was going far to fast to have time to think about anything 

else except control of his direction.

***********

Akane curled into a fetal ball on her side in the coals, her 

clothing in tatters. She no longer felt the pain of their searing 

heat. A much more fierce pain invaded every cell of her being. And 

that pain began with a agonizing wave emanating from the place between 

her legs.

She sobbed with the pain, even as her attacker stood braced 

above her staring down at her from under black bangs that still 

reminded her of Ranma. She curled away from that still lustful gaze 

to the very extent of her being. Even though her muscles screamed at 

her for taking that action.

Ranma. She longed for him to come and take her away. And 

yet, at the same time, she didn't want him to see her. Didn't want 

him to know what had happened. 

She cried even harder at her confusion. She didn't know what 

she wanted anymore. It just hurt so bad.

However, she also didn't want to see him at all. She was 

absolutely terrified that somehow the sight of Ranma would always 

bring back the horror and pain that this man had brought her. The 

way they looked so alike frightened her. 

She didn't want to think that Ranma, her gentle knight, could 

be like that man. She didn't want to believe that he could be so rough

with her. Not when he was always so gentle and caring. 

Maybe he was crude in speech and rough around the edges, but 

that was a part of who Ranma was. And maybe he did insult her, which

hurt her feelings more than she wanted to admit, but he never 

abandoned her. Never turned his back on her.

Except now. Now she was afraid that that was exactly what he

would do. She wasn't pure now. Nodoka would never accept her as a wife 

for her proud man among men son. She was unbelievably terrified that 

he would acquiesce to his mother's demands and set her aside. 

She didn't want to be set aside. Not now. She just wanted him

to hold her in his arms like he had done after battling with Saffron

and tell her that everything would be alright. But she didn't want to 

be near him either. And that hurt more than anything.

The thought that she wouldn't ever be able to stand the touch 

of the man that she so dearly wanted to be with for the rest of her 

life, the man she... she loved. That brought pains that didn't have 

anything to do with the physical agony that yet wracked her body. She

knew that nothing would ever be the same after what had happened.

Yet, she didn't want his pity. She didn't want him to treat 

her like an invalid. She just wanted him. Though she didn't want 

him. She was so confused.

And the man that loomed over head leered down at her and 

burst into a new bout of laughter as tears begin trickling down 

her face again.

***********

Rapidly closing the distance between himself and her, Ranma 

noticed suddenly that there was something wet upon his cheeks and his 

vision was blurred. He recognized the signs, even as he dashed away 

the marks with his arm. They were tears and he was crying.

He didn't cry much. He was a man among men after all. Things 

had to be terribly wrong to cause him to loose it like that. 

The last time he had felt tears upon his cheeks was when he 

had held Akane so tenderly in his arms immediately after the fight 

with Saffron. He had tried so hard. And yet, to all appearances, he 

had failed her. 

He had cried then. And no one had held it against him. He 

had thought, he had honestly believed that Akane had died, and it 

was all his fault. Because he was too slow. Because he hadn't fought

well enough. His fault.

Then she had opened her eyes and smiled upon him. And he 

was brought back to earth with the gentle touch of her fingers upon 

his cheek.

Yet, now he was crying again. And that brought fear to the

heart that had never known fear before. For he knew that the only 

thing that could bring him to tears was Akane. And for her to be in 

that much pain and trouble, he knew that it was his fault again.

He had left Nerima. He had left her. And yet, she was still 

in danger. And it was all his fault

"AKANE!" he screamed, as he raced down the final tunnel 

that would lead him invariably to the door where she waited. 

***********

AUTHOR'S NOTE: If you're wondering, I'm rating this higher than I 

would normally. It's getting into rather adult themes now, don't 

you think? And don't worry, there will be confrontation soon.

Oh. I was listening to Triumph for this chapter. Does anyone 

think that this chapter is better than Part Nine?


	27. Least Born

Chapter 25 __

Chapter Two: Least Born

The ornate door which had swung shut after Akane entered the obsidian room barred Ranma's entrance with the strength of a hundred men pressing against its barred surface from the other side. Nothing which he tried caused the heavily carved and gilded barrier to budge. Finally, in pure and utter desperation, he raised his emerald katana and brought it to bear upon the portal. 

Emerald flames licked the air as he delivered his first vehement blow to the door. The panel shuddered violently, but stirred not from its casement. Ranma snarled with impatience at the prolonged delay.

The second strike hissed and spat with fury as it roared along its path to the door. The irresolute barrier rang like a bell as it shuttered against its frame, but otherwise did not move. Ranma's fury grew exponentially in response.

He screamed in rage as he whipped the emerald katana around again for a third stroke. The katana's tip arced backwards towards the hilt as he tore it violently through air that suddenly seemed as thick as molasses. Emerald and sapphire flames roared about him and his blade. Causing him to appear as the living incarnation of flame as his once short braid suddenly grew many times its original length to snap out behind him like the tail of a comet streaking through the heavens. 

The katana struck fiercely against the door a third and final time. This time the loud peal that resulted rose to an ear-piercing wail. The door suddenly shattered into a million pieces and Ranma stood in the opening writhed in flames. 

His eyes almost glowed with the sheer amount of energy pouring off of his body in waves. The katana was held low in his posture with both hands wrapped around the grip, its tip pointed towards the center of the room. His teeth shone brilliantly white against the maelstrom of colour about him as he bared them in a feral snarl. His suddenly lengthy braid snapped and wove snakelike about him as if with a life all of its own.

This was the scene he presented as he burst into the site of Akane's defeat at the hands of a leering, over-arrogant look-alike of Ranma. His eyes flashed with fury as he scanned the room. The first thing his eyes were drawn to like moths to a flame was the sight of Akane curled into a ball facing away from him. His chiseled features slowly took on a look of horror as he stared at the burns that laced her back and the charred mass that had once been her hair.

But that wasn't what hurt him the worst to look upon. No. The thing that hurt him the worst was unlike almost every single other time he had come to her rescue, she wasn't standing with the fierce pride that he held so dear. Instead, she laid upon the ground trembling from some cause unknown to him.

His katana was gone the instant he laid eyes upon her. His feet slapped hard against the slick surface in a rapid staccato as he raced to her side. His face was horrified and he had eyes for no one and nothing else. 

"Akane!" he yelled as he ran. 

She twisted her tearstained face painfully towards him. Her features marked with shiny burns and a fear that would haunt him for the rest of his life. He skidded to a halt beside her, his slippered feet sending live coals flying away from them.

"Akane..." he whispered, wavering between desperately wanting to hold her in his arms and protect her, and not wanting to touch her to keep from hurting her even worse than she already was. His normally confident hands fluttered uselessly about her battered form as his face was contorted into a helpless mockery of his confidence. Finally, he reached up and gently wiped the tears away from her face with his callused thumb. 

Moving quickly, he stripped off his precious, scarlet, long-sleeved overshirt with the Chinese collar. Then he lifted her as tenderly as he could and wrapped it about her body before picking her completely up and carrying her free of the coals that scattered the floor. Walking carefully, so as not to disturb his precious load, he bore her from the room.

As he walked, Akane looked desperately into his face, trying as hard as she could to suppress the need to struggle away and race from him as fast as she could. His features were cold now. Determined. And that frightened her. She had heard from the others what he had done to Saffron, and as impressive as that was, she was still frightened for him. She knew first hand how powerful the creature he would be facing was. 

He set her down just outside the door. Crouching before her, he tugged his shirt a little more snuggly around her so that she wouldn't be cold and wiped away the tears that had fallen down her face as he carried her. Gazing into her eyes with those deep sapphire orbs that told so much difference between him and the beast that had stolen so much from her, he spoke.

"Don't worry, Akane." His voice was soft, husky. Just like she remembered. Not the childish piping or the rumbling darkness of the beast. "It'll be alright. I promise. I'll make it alright." Then he leaned forward and pressed his lips softly against her forehead and was gone. 

And she was alone. Tears streamed down her face as she realized that she finally felt safe. Not when Ranma held her so tenderly, but when she was completely alone. 

***********

Ranma stalked back into the obsidian room as the flames of rage and despair rose off of him like smoke. His eyes sparked and flashed in his fury. His golden rod appeared in his hand and changed form so quickly that it seemed that the emerald katana had appeared in his hand immediately. When he spotted the beast that stood yet in the very center of the room, he nearly erupted in rage, but he controlled it barely. 

"You did this." Were the first words he spoke, as he slowly brought the katana up into a guard stance. The phrase was most certainly not a question, though that didn't stop the beast from treating it like one.

"Did what?" the dark rumble replied, issuing from an identical image of Ranma's face.

"You know what you did." Ranma snarled back, almost spitting in his anger.

"Oh. That. I don't know what you're so upset about, boy. She was just a woman. That happens to be what women are for, boy. Don't you know that?" the beast's expression was seriously holier than thou. 

"That was Akane! She was, is, _my fiancee_! That is _not _what _she _is for!" Ranma roared.

"Oh, as if that makes any difference. She's got a hole, don't she? Therefore a man has to teach her to respect him! You should have put a collar and tags on her if you didn't want to share! Deal with it boy, your little piece of ass got _fucked_! And the only reason no one else has fucked her yet is cause you got lucky, boy!" The beast was beginning to get angry with Ranma's apparent stupidity about the inherent place of women in the status quo. 

Ranma had looked down at the ground during the beast's tirade, and by that point was trembling with the maelstrom of vehemence that roared within him. He raised his eyes slowly to meet the beast's onyx ones.

"You're wrong." His voice was soft, steady, almost a whisper. "Women are to be treated with respect. Women are to be protected. Akane is my friend. She is my companion. My shield arm. She was not meant for the likes of you."

He paused to gather his temper about him again, then continued.

"Tell me your name." He demanded in the same soft, steady voice.

"Why should I?"

"Because I will know the name of the creature that sought to degrade and defile women. You, who are worse even than the mild perversities of Kuno, shall be the one who is destroyed today. I shall strive to eradicate all forms of your name so that you are not remembered on this earth today, tomorrow, or yesterday."

"Since you think you are so powerful, I shall deign to tell you, foolish boy. I am the one who is known as Raetheon. Some call me the Destroyer. Who are you, so that I may return the favor after I extinguish your pitiful flame of life?"

"I am Saotome Ranma of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts. I have fought against gods themselves and won. I'm not going to lose to the likes of you."

And then all words were finished as Ranma leapt where angels feared to tread to do what he did best. Fight.

He sprung from where he stood without even bothering to take even the shortest step forward. He simply propelled himself without any visible means to fly through the still air towards Raetheon the Destroyer. His katana was upheld in preparation for a killing strike as he soared through the air. His face was contorted in a snarl of concentration.

At the last instant, a similar blade of emerald hue appeared in Raetheon's hand and deflected the onrush of the katana's downward stroke. The slender, slightly curved blade embellished with a guard the curved over his knuckles that was held in Raetheon's hand was not Japanese in origin. It appeared like nothing so much as an American calvery saber from the civil war period. Twin tassels hung from the pommel in an annoyingly flashing bit of decoration. Raetheon merely smirked at Ranma's apparent disbelief.

"I am twice the man you will ever be, boy. Don't think that just because I do not have it constantly swinging about in full view, that I don't carry a sword." He laughed.

Ranma didn't even bother with a reply. He simply swung the katana about to strike ringly against the other blade. The two blades sang an ever increasing pitch as the they ran along each other's lengths to allow their wielders to meet face to face in a clench at crossed guards.

The twin faces snarled at each other over the crossed blades. Their free hands wrapped about the other's sword arm. Their feet dug securely into the ground. They struggled mightily against each other.

It would have been an evenly matched battle except for one thing. Ranma had only recently gained his ki rod. Raetheon on the other hand had apparently had his for much longer.

Suddenly, Raetheon's saber changed shape and hue and Ranma was sent hurtling across the room with a scream. He hit hard against the wall beside the door and slid limply down with a slight smear of blood from where his skull had cracked against it upon impact. A tiny trickle of blood oozed its way out of the corner of his mouth. 

Slowly, Ranma picked himself up off the ground. He wiped away the bit of blood from his mouth with the back of this free hand. Reaching back, he discovered the tear in his scalp, but dismissed it as unimportant. His eyes never left Raetheon.

In his hand, his emerald katana slowly changed shape. It flickered and flashed between various hues and shapes before finally settling into a scarlet hued device. Raising it slowly, Ranma pointed the device at Raetheon, who gaze at him curiously.

"I saw something like this in a game once." Ranma mentioned, almost off-handedly, as he fired the device. The hook on the end raced towards Raetheon and expanded and wrapped itself around him before he had time to react. "GET OVER HERE!" he yelled, pressing a different stud on the device. 

Raetheon suddenly found himself flying through the air towards Ranma. The grappling hook in Ranma's hands was the direct cause of that result. He flew past Ranma as the other ducked and continued the motion with his arm. Smashing upside-down into the same wall that Ranma had hit bruised his confidence somewhat. Not to mention giving him a broken nose and a pair of black eyes.

Kipping to his feet despite being still tied up and injured, Raetheon flexed his arms and upper body. The grappling hook tensed for a moment. Straining mightily against Raetheon's fierce onslaught, the hook finally gave up the ghost and broke open. Ranma screamed in pain as his ki rod took the brunt of the damage. 

Raetheon grinned evilly as he called his own ki rod back to his hand. "Next time you decide to pull a stunt from a game like that, boy, I'd recommend that you remember to let go." 

"I'll keep that in mind." Ranma snarled through bloodstained teeth as he glared at Raetheon.

He charged at Raetheon again. This time he actually got through the other's defenses. Three high powered strikes to the gut. Then he whipped his foot around in a golden high kick that moved so quickly though the air it literally caused a field of dense air to build up before it. 

That last kick sent Raetheon flying again. This time not far in flight time, but he slammed hard into the ground and skidded across the floor until he ended up lying on his back in the center of the room once more. Ranma summoned his katana again and leapt for him once more. 

He reached the apex of his leap almost directly above Raetheon. Then he altered his stance slightly so as to bring him downwards in a much steeper arc. During the time that he did that, however, Raetheon had recovered enough to summon his ki rod to him again. 

"Tell me something, boy, since you've learned about ki rod. Have you learned to do this yet?" Raetheon asked, pointing the rod directly upwards at Ranma. 

Suddenly the dark golden rod morphed into a strange green and red mixture of confidence and depression that just should not have been possible to pull off. The shape was vaguely gun-like, though Ranma couldn't think of any guns that would have a muzzle quite that large.

Raetheon depressed the stud with a grin at Ranma's surprised features. "I guess not." 

The green and red fireball that launched from the muzzle caught Ranma hard in the chest and propelled him upwards fast enough to smash clear through the ceiling.

***********

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Hey, there! Me again. Don't worry, things are going smooth. Hope you all had a nice Fourth if you're Americans, though! ;D

Again, it was Triumph for this scene. I hope everyone's liking this so far. Tell me if you have a major problem though! I've been known to make some really strange mistakes from time to time. 

And no, the fight's not over yet.

There's still another chapter to go before I wrap up this battle scene!

__

[Next Chapter][1]

   [1]: Chapter26.html



	28. Warrior Born

Chapter 26 __

Chapter Three: Warrior Born

Meanwhile, the host of Senshi that had taken part in the rather one sided battle against Ranko and their late arriving backup had remained more or less within the confines of the grove where the battle had occurred. Much of the time they had spent there had been involved with healing various injuries and resting up to their original levels of preparedness. They all knew that Ranko had been the one to break the seal. There was simply no one else that could have torn asunder such a massive disk as far as they knew.

And now they were awaiting the reemergence of her and possibly Akane from the depths of the Pit. They felt that there was nothing more they could do except guard that opening. Though Uranus was all for leaping feet first into the Pit and duking it out with whatever was in there, that idea was nixed rather vehemently by those girls that had actually engaged in combat with the enigmatic Ranko. Two by two they took their turns gazing into the darkness. 

"Nietzsche wasn't kidding." Mercury murmured at one point during her shift gazing into the Pit. "If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you."

"I don't get it." Was Moon's reply.

"It's not really something that can be explained. But it basically means that the longer you try to stare down darkness, or evil, the more likely that it will find itself in you." Mercury explained. "However, I meant it in that I'm getting a rather unnerving feeling that something down there is watching me watching it."

But other than that odd incident, there was a pall of silence that laid heavily over the grove. Only one other time was it broken. A distant echoing mournful wait tore its way up to burst from the mouth of the Pit and dance upon the ears of all within the grove and the surrounding environs.

***********

Nothing had prepared them for what happened after that eerie wail. A tremble of the ground. Followed by a slight rumbling. 

And suddenly just outside the confines of the grove there came a fiercely burning blast of energy dimly flickering about a single dark figure, illuminating the night sky with the brilliance of a new born sun. 

***********

The Senshi made their way as quickly as they could to the place of that occurrence. They arrived just in time to witness the ascension of the Dark One from the depths of the Earth. 

He arose on a swirling disk of pure ebony flame. A handsomely deadly vision of evil emerging from darkness into the light of the moon. And flinching not from that soft reflection of the fury of the sun.

His long hair flared out behind him in a loose fan. His scarred torso rippled with muscles under tanned flesh. The aristocratic beauty of his face was marred with blood trickling down from a split lip. A bruise was beginning to form high on his right cheek and a thin trickle of blood dribbled down his neck. 

"Ranma!" Mars gasped in sudden shock. For the diabolical phantasm bore an uncanny resemblance to the long missing man. 

"Here..." responded a weary voice from off to the side, near the edge of the small lake that filled the center of the park. "I'm here..."

The Senshi spun about almost as one, tearing their eyes from the vision that stood suspended over the gaping darkness of yet another Pit. There, some fifteen or more feet away, struggled to his feet the battered and bloody form of Saotome Ranma. His black A-line shirt was badly burned and his traditional black cotton pants were yet smoldering. The black leather slippers that had once adorned his feet had been completely destroyed in the blast that had hurled him through the ceiling of the cavern in which he had battled with his doppelganger a great depth within the Earth. However, he somehow managed to retain his unusually lengthy braid with only the barest about of singeing to the tied off tip.

As he finally managed to struggle to an upright position, he reached around, grasped his braid, and flicked it around to wrap about his neck. Then he stood there for a moment, as brilliant gold and scarlet flames swirled slowly up about his form. In response, the man over the Pit suddenly flared duskily in ebon flame. 

"Raetheon! I'm not finished with you yet!" Ranma snarled from a face blackened with soot, bruises, and drying blood. Reaching out, he summoned his ki rod back to his hand. "I won't forgive what you did to Akane!"

"Don't you know when you're defeated, foolish boy?" Raetheon asked, raising one thin eyebrow in question, even as he called his own ki rod to his hand.

"Saotome Ranma don't accept defeat!" Ranma roared, leaping towards where Raetheon depended in midair. 

Raetheon just sighed and switched his ki rod into its saber form. "Haven't we already done this before?"

But Ranma wasn't rehashing old plots. "Sakkidatta HA!" he screamed, channeling the force of his combination attack through his ki rod. 

The ki rod worked rather effectively as an amplifying mean. It stored within its, suddenly, katana form the massive burst of energy that would have shot forth as multiple, though significantly weaker than otherwise, Moko Takabushi. As the force built higher and higher with in the emerald katana, it ran through the myriad pathways that were embedded in the katana during its creation. In effect, it worked not unlike a particle accelerator, though Ranma didn't know that. 

Thus, the seventeen to eighteen blasts that emerged from the tip of the katana were roughly the equivalent of an equal number of full powered energy balls. 

Raetheon was not fazed in the least. Though he was mildly impressed by the number that Ranma had managed to get off in his direction. A wave of his verdant saber later, the brilliantly scarlet balls were veering off in various directions to diffuse rather harmlessly, though spectacularly, in the distance. 

In response, he slashed his saber downwards, sending a sable bar of energy spinning rapidly in Ranma's direction. At the last moment, Ranma managed to interpose his katana between his body and the bar and deflect it away. But only just barely, which resulted in the leading edge of the bar to smack quite squarely into Ranma's chest and send him flying backwards several feet.

He slammed hard into the ground and skidded all the way back to where the Senshi were clustered about Moon in mutual confusion. Mars helped him to his feet. 

"Ranma, what's happening?" she whispered as she did so.

"That... that... _bastard_," he spat, filling the last word with disgust and loathing, "_raped_ Akane!" Then he was back on his feet and rushing towards Raetheon again.

Mars wasn't the only one who had heard Ranma's cause for attack so viciously. Venus and Jupiter were beginning to look quite bloodthirsty, despite their multiple injuries, and Uranus was only barely being held back by Neptune, though the aquamarine tressed maiden looked as if she wanted a piece of Raetheon herself. But it wasn't really their fight, and thus they needed permission from the person that they were supposed to be guarding.

Moon, for her part, was looking at them all in shock. "What? Why are you all standing around looking at me for?" she asked, tears in her eyes glistening momentarily before running down her face in thin rivulets. "You all heard what Ranma said that.. that _creature_ did to Akane! She's our _friend_! We can't just sit back and do nothing!"

It was all the permission they needed. Jupiter rushed in and tackled Raetheon from behind, knocking him clear off of his ebon disk before rolling clear. Uranus struck next, slamming a raging Space Sword Blaster attack into the downed Raetheon. Then Neptune tried drowning him with a simpler attack, the Deep Submerge.

But Raetheon simply laughed when all was said and done. He stood to his feet and idly brushed the dirt from his pants. The ebony flames which had flickered about him still stood strong around his form. He smiled at the girls, flashing brilliantly white teeth in their direction.

"So, I see that Ranma's little friends decided to help. How.. amusing." He chuckled in a rather droll tone. "It would figure that his allies would be nothing but useless women. How typical for a little boy."

While Raetheon was laughing and luxuriating in his self-assured male superiority complex, Ranma hadn't been lying around. He had taken advantage of the distraction provided by the Senshi to sneak up behind Raetheon. Suddenly he reared up and smashed Raetheon across the back of the head with a anger generated ki-mallet courtesy of his ki-rod. His face was a furious snarl of pain and blood. 

Raetheon smashed in the ground and skidded face first through the dirt for a good three feet from the force of the blow before finally stopping. He heaved himself upwards onto his hands and knees. Spitting out the mouthful of dirt and filth he had accumulated in his trip, he slowly twisted his head about until he was glaring at where Ranma stood breathing heavily, still gripping the mallet in both hands, though the head now rested upon the ground. 

His face was marked with myriad cuts and abrasions. Mud caked his face were the soft loam of the Earth had mixed with his spilt blood. His hair was disheveled and wild, matted with blood and filth. His lips were peeled back from his teeth in a feral snarl as he glared at Ranma with his sparking onyx eyes. His teeth lengthened noticeably as Ranma watched into feline-like fangs and needle-sharp teeth. He looked remarkably demonic with the blood staining his sharp teeth from his lacerated tongue. 

He stood abruptly. Moving with such grace and speed that it seemed as though he simply disappeared from the ground and reappeared crouching across the clearing from Ranma. 

"I'm going to enjoy killing you for my Master, boy." Raetheon snarled. "By the time I'm finished with you, you'll be begging for me to kill you and end your miserable existence." His voice was now rough as though he had been gargling with gravel and battery acid. 

Ranma snorted as he lifted up the katana out of the mallet form and brought it about in a defensive stance, though he moved with an almost obvious weariness now. "Ya know, Ray. I can call you Ray, can't I? Thanks. Well, ya know what, Ray? Lots of people have told me that at one point or another in this miserable existence of mine. Now, have any succeeded? Wait a sec, let me see..." Ranma looked about himself as if trying to figure out if he was dead. "Gee, it sure doesn't look like it." Then his eyes were the gray blue of the finest sword-steel and just as deadly. "And I don't plan on letting you be the first."

"You talk to much, boy!" Raetheon growled, leaping for Ranma with his saber outstretched. 

The emerald blades met with a tremendous crash, verdant sparks flaring off to splash against trees, rocks, water, and Senshi. They sang their siren song as the twin opponents spun away in a neo-classical disengagement. The blades met again, Ranma twisting about in a desperate defense against an attack to his back from Raetheon. 

Then the flaming rings of Mars' Burning Mandela slammed into the fighters, striking Ranma and Raetheon equally. Ranma screamed in pain. Raetheon laughed.

"Thanks for the boost, wench!" he hooted back over his shoulder, as some of the injuries that had been occurred in the fight suddenly closed themselves from the influx of fiery energy. 

"Dammit!" Mars could be heard to hiss in disgust off to the side were she had crouched for so long in preparation for her attack. 

Ranma was limping now, and favoring his left arm, which had taken the brunt of Mars attack. Gold and scarlet flames flickered erratically around him. He was in obvious pain, and was dragging each breath in through teeth clenched against the agony. Yet, he clutched his katana in his hand still, and refused to give in. 

Raetheon had reverted to quick darts of offense as a result to his renewed vigor. So far, Ranma had managed to ward off the flickers and tongues which lashed out at him with surprising force. However, he knew that that particular standoff would not last long.

And he was right. For at that moment, Raetheon flickered into his defenses and slashed across Ranma's chest. Ranma flew back and fell upon the ground, groaning in pain as he curled slowly about the oozing gash that had opened in his chest. 

The Senshi dared not attack Raetheon as he stalked forward to stand triumphantly over Ranma's bloody form for fear of further harming their sometimes friend and ally. Raetheon chuckled evilly as he raised his saber above his head. 

"And so it ends." He chortled, slowly bringing the blade down to align it over Ranma's neck, then raising it again with the steady cadence of a ritual. 

"You! Freeze!"

Two of the local police officers had come in response to the disturbance reported by neighbors of the small park. Now they stood on either side of Ranma and Raetheon. One to the front, one to the rear of Raetheon. Both had firearms, rare for Japan though somewhat necessary in Juuban because of the unusual circumstances there, and those firearms were trained on Raetheon. 

"Peacekeepers? How... quaint." And then Raetheon moved. The saber flashed twice. Once forward into the chest of the man before him. Then reverse grip and back directly into the throat of the man to his rear.

The two fell into death's grasp almost immediately. Only a groan and a liquid gurgle marked their passing as their suddenly lifeless bodies crumpled onto the ground. Moon gasped and reached ineffectively towards them as if to somehow halt their passing.

Then Raetheon turned back to his task at hand. Ranma's imminent demise. He raised the saber above his head once more with a grim smirk upon his feature. 

Then, just as the blade flashed downwards towards Ranma's unprotected neck, something happened.

"NO!" 

The shriek echoed through the silence of the night. 

Then came a sudden blast of boiling water, lashing against Raetheon and driving him back away from Ranma. 

Everyone looked around desperately for the source of that sudden blast of power so like a Senshi. What met their searching eyes was a startling sight. 

For there crouched Akane, at the edge of the Pit just two feet from where Ranma lay. Her clothing was still ragged. Her skin was still bubbled and blistered from the heat of the coals she had laid upon. Her hair was still seared shorter than short. Ranma's shirt was held wrapped about her torso with one trembling hand. Her other hand was outstretched towards Raetheon.

Her eyes though, were directed solely towards Ranma. Tears trickled from her eyes. She shook terribly, but she somehow managed to force herself to his side. Wrapping her arms around him, despite her shuddering, she held him to her. 

"I won't let you hurt him anymore." She whispered. 

Raetheon looked for a moment as if he would take the two for one special that was offering itself, when suddenly Akane and Ranma burst into gold and scarlet flames so bright that it hurt to look upon them.

"Well." He snorted, stalking over to the edge of the pit. "It's been fun, but it seems that it's time for me to be going." With that, he leapt into the Pit. 

A gout of flame leaping upwards from the Pit and an answering tower of fire from the grove echoed his vanishing act into the Pit. When the flames died away, a lava cap sealed the entrance to the Pit and it didn't take much to figure out that they would find the same thing at the other Pit entrance.

Then the flames died away from Akane and Ranma. Somehow their positions had become reversed. Ranma now held Akane in his lap. Their wounds, at least the physical ones, had been healed, burned away by their fierce strength of the flames. Ranma looked up to see that Raetheon was gone and that the sun was just peeking over the horizon signaling the dawn of a new day. 

Standing, he set Akane gently upon the ground and looked for the Senshi. Most were gathered across the clearing, watching their leader and princess. She was crouched were Raetheon had once stood, looking form one corpse to the other with tears in her eyes. She was reaching to both as if she could do something and gibbering faintly. 

When she reached for her pendent though, something within Ranma snapped and he found himself for the first time furious at her. Striding over to her, he wrapped his hands around her upper arms with enough strength to leave bruises and hauled her to her feet. Then, letting go with one hand, he back handed her across the face. Hard. Jupiter leapt towards him with anger and hate written across her face, but the other's held her back.

He shook her when his slap got no response. Her head flopped back and forth like a rag-doll, as she kept trying to look at the two fallen police officers. 

"Goddammit, you stupid ditz! They're __dead__! Don't you get it?! Dead as in deceased! As in THEY ARE NOT COMING BACK!" Finally, he had got her attention, and she directed her tear stained face to meet his eyes. "Don't you _get_ it?! This guy isn't another one of your Goddamned little reborn enemies or whatever! This guy isn't __stupid__! We are in a WAR here! This is a WAR! And in war people DIE! And when they die they DON'T COME BACK! This isn't one of your stupid VIDEO GAMES! If someone dies you can't drop a couple more yen in the slot and expect them to get back up! It doesn't work that way! It just doesn't work that way." 

Then Ranma walked over to Akane and lifted her into his arms. "Come on, Akane. Let's go home." She wrapped her arms about his neck to help him balance her weight as he leapt off in the early morning light. 

Moon slowly sank to her knees in the center of the battlefield, her lower lip clenched between her teeth in an attempt to keep it from trembling. She chafed slowly at her upper arms trying to get the pain their to go away. A bright red handprint flared on her cheek. She looked slowly to where her Senshi clustered silently. 

"Mars?" she whispered.

"He's right." Was the only response she received as Mars leapt off after Ranma's disappearing form.

"Jupiter?" 

Jupiter just looked sadly at Moon's pitiful form, having recovered from her blind rage, and limped off towards her home.

"Venus?"

Venus looked at Moon, opened her mouth as if to say something, then apparently decided against it as she shook her head. She turned and caught up with Jupiter, offering her support to the taller girl to help her home.

"Uranus? Neptune? Saturn?"

But the Outers had already left with the disappearance of Raetheon. Moon turned to the only one still standing with her.

"Mercury?" 

Mercury swallowed slowly against the lump in her throat before speaking. "What do you want me to say? I'm your friend. We all are. But.. Ranma's right. You've got to understand that." Then she allowed her transformation to fade away and slowly walked off to her home.

And Sailormoon, Champion of Love and Justice, was left alone in the center of what was left of a vicious battle between Light and Darkness.

***********

Sometime later, before the city had fully awoken yet, a swirling portal opened and out stepped the black and deepest green garbed Senshi of Time. Sailorpluto walked forward to where Moon lay upon the ground, apparently asleep. Crouching down beside her Princess, Pluto brushed away a stray lock of blonde hair from the sleeping girl's face.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that, my future Queen. But, I had no choice but to let it happen. I'm sorry." Then she bent down and scooped the slumbering princess into her arms. "For now, I shall make certain that you are found peacefully slumbering in your own bed."

And the Guardian of the Gates of Time and her dreaming burden slipped into the timestream. The Princess with her friend and protector. 

***********

AUTHOR'S NOTES: So, what do you think? Too short, I know. Deal with it, I don't have anything more to write on it. At least it's not as fierce a cliffhanger as some of the one's I've written. Anyone remember the end of Book One? Hmmm? ;D

Well, what did you think of the ending? Didn't expect that from someone who's a self-proclaimed Pluto-hater did you? No, I don't plan on writing Pluto out to be the self-serving little bitch that most people write her as. Though, I will point out that there are quite a few instances in which she is mentioned as being such within the context of the tale. And it makes sense. Because those mentions are from the perspective of a character, who may or may not care for how Pluto deals with things. Besides, I hate the cats worse. (No particular reason, I just have a wild aversion to Luna and Artemis and at times Diana. Gee, maybe it's cause Artemis is a FEMALE moon GODDESS??)

Yes, there will be more. I will force myself to finish this thing, don't worry. 

Goddess in Heaven, I'm only about halfway done! *beats head on desk*

[Next Chapter][1]

   [1]: 404.html



	29. First Sword

Part Eleven: Elder Sword  
Chapter One: First Sword  
  
  
Ranma touched down lightly in the enclosure of the walls of his   
home with his trembling burden still gripped firmly, yet gently, within   
his grasp. He glanced down at Akane's face, taking in her clenched shut   
eyes and trembling body and the way her arms locked about his neck with   
his pained sapphire eyes. When a tear traced its way down a cheek which   
still bore faint marks despite their miraculous healing, Ranma could   
barely hold back the furious growl that threatened to tear its way past   
his clenched teeth.  
Mars landed with a slight thump on the ground behind them just   
moments later. She was winded and tired after her long chase after him,   
but she tried to hold that back. However, when she took a step forward to  
lay a comforting hand upon Ranma's shoulder, he suddenly spun about with   
a look of such fury written upon his face that she couldn't help but   
flinch bodily backwards in fear.   
"Don't touch me." He snarled, his voice emerging from deep in   
his chest and rumbling outwards in a bass growl. "Don't touch Akane. In   
fact, why don't you just get your backstabbing self out of here before I   
do something that I MIGHT regret later."   
Akane's eyes fluttered open at the raw, unmitigated fury in his   
voice. A hand roughened from years spent sending cinder blocks to their  
Maker gently brushed against his cheek and turned his gaze from where   
Mars cowered to where Akane yet still laid in his arms. Her body still   
trembled with the memory of what had happened to her that night, and yet   
her dark eyes that hid untold depths of pain within them pleaded with him   
in their own unique way.  
"Ranma." She whispered, the name sliding easily off of her tongue   
as it always had whether in anger or in worry despite what had been done  
by the vicious beast Raetheon. "Don't."  
And with that one particular word from that one particular person   
on that one particular morning, Ranma stopped. For Akane on that morning,  
he stopped. How could he do anything less for one who had suffered as she   
had that night? How could anyone as chivalrous as he possibly do anything   
else?  
And so, the Pretty Sailor-suited Soldier Sailormars, otherwise   
known as the beauteous young temple maiden Hino Rei, was not torn apart   
piece by piece at the hands of a righteously furious young man, that she   
had earlier so unwarrantedly assaulted, that night. All because the man   
in question found himself incapable of deliberately performing some action   
which would cause distress to the woman in his arms.   
"I'll deal with you later." Ranma snarled as Akane's eyes fell   
shut again, his voice much more sullen than it had been earlier. "Right  
now, Akane's well being is far more important to me than beating the hell   
out of someone like you."  
With that, he strode purposefully into the house before him.  
  
***********  
  
The sullen light of late evening after the night-long battle against  
Raetheon the Destroyer, which ended rather inconclusively at the dawning of   
a new day, found Ranma sitting up through the ever thickening dusk in   
dedicated vigil to one Tendo Akane, despite his burgeoning exhaustion. Rei   
hid herself in the background, a scurrying figure trying with desperation   
to find herself exit from the unpleasant situation she had inadvertently   
placed herself within by following Ranma away from the battlefield. Akane   
curled tight about herself in a fetal ball on the red bedspread of Ranma's   
bunk.   
The setting was a relatively spacious room in the Hino Residence   
whose absence of decoration fair screamed the name of the primary   
resident. The spartan room bore little furniture to match its lack of   
ornamentation. The bed upon which Akane laid was pushed tight against   
the far wall from the doorway. On the wall to the immediate left of the  
door, which lead to the hallway through its sliding panels, their stood   
a simple wooden clothespress and the window which stood above it and allowed  
some sparse particles of light admittance into the somber room. The wall   
across from it was bare as was the wall which fronted the hall, since Ranma   
had stored his pack in the hollow under his bed.   
Ranma gazed at Akane's torturous expression through half-lidded   
eyes with the same spaced-out quality as found in people who force   
themselves to continue despite the fact that they are obviously exhausted.   
The heavy lids slowly drooped lower and lower over the clear sapphire eyes   
that gazed up the girl who had captured his hand in an, at times painful,   
grip. Behind them, Rei hoped and prayed for Ranma to fall into the clutches  
of the Lord of Dreams, because she honestly believed that that was the only   
way for her to make good her escape.  
But her hopes and prayers were in vain, for at the very moment   
which Ranma's eyes slid completely closed and she began inching towards   
the door, Akane finally fell into a more peaceful slumber and her hand   
gently loosed Ranma's. The cessation of pressure upon his hand awoke the   
teenaged combatant from the fitful slumber he had been dropping into. With   
a sigh, he pushed himself up off of the ground and gently arranged Akane's  
hand beside her on the bed.  
As his back was turned, Rei made an attempt for the door. But at   
that moment, Ranma turned to her. She found herself ensnared by the  
unfathomable depths of his eyes the deep stormy-gray of the waters of a sea  
grasped in the throws of a hurricane.   
Then the moment was over, and he strode silently past her into the  
hall. With that single look he had instructed her to follow him, and she   
obediently followed along.   
She trailed after him down the stairs to the main hall, back into   
the kitchen pantry, down into the cellar and then further. The entire trek  
to the library was made in silence broken only by the sound of their   
footsteps upon the stone. Ranma's stride was grimly purposeful, yet Rei's   
was filled with hesitation and nervousness.  
  
***********  
  
When they finally arrived in the grim silence of the cavernous   
athenaeum, Ranma paced the length of the room in reticence to the far   
end of the long, highly polished table, trailing his slender fingers   
lightly along the glistening surface as he walked. Once he reached the   
end, and the throne-like chair which presided over the room from there,   
he turned and sat within the depths of the place of honor. Steepling his   
hands before him at first, he soon placed them fast upon the marbled stone   
and gazed upon them with the rapt fixedness of a man who did not know   
exactly where to begin.  
Rei, for her part, waited nervously near the door, fidgeting   
helplessly with the hem of her yellow sweater. She shuffled her feet   
softly on the macadamized parterre, though not enough to disturb Ranma's   
reverie. Her violet eyes gazed apprehensively down the length of the room   
to rest upon Ranma's reposed figure. After some time, he did look up and   
direct his attention upon her.   
"Why, Rei?" he asked, his normally overwhelmingly confident voice  
hushed to almost a bare whisper, confidence nearly overwhelmed by resignation  
and exhaustion.   
The murmured question cracked slightly at the end. A slight upward   
pitch, almost undetectable to any who didn't know him, but Rei noticed it.   
With two words, he had managed to convey the pain of betrayal held within   
his heart because of what she had done. The next few words didn't help her   
feel better at all.  
"What the hell possessed you to try and turn me into a living   
campfire, Rei? I thought we were supposed to be friends! We're cousins,   
Goddammit!" His furious voice trailed off into silence, leaving an opening   
clear as day for her to pick up with an explanation of her actions towards   
him.   
She cast desperately about for something, anything, that could   
possibly save her from having to face that accusing gaze which he had  
leveled upon her. What she found was the bookcase that lined the walls   
of the enclosure. Moving slowly, trying hard to make the move look casual   
and unconcerned, she wandered over to the case and gently drifted her   
fingertips along the wooden cases of the ancient scroll containers and   
over leather bindings stiff with age. She allowed her eyes to pour over   
the graceful characters that outlined the contents hidden behind the   
age-old covers.   
She was a long time in answering, but when she did finally give   
tongue to her thoughts, the words did not come with her typical grace or   
charm. A heavy, gilt-edge tome was shifted from its resting place and into  
her hands before she spoke. Its delicate hand-lettered pages still crisp,   
despite the yellowing of the parchment the characters were inscribed upon.   
She poured over the meandering rivers of text for some minutes before she   
spoke.  
"I don't know." She paused for a second, collecting her thoughts   
for a second attempt. "I mean, it's difficult to explain."   
"Difficult to explain?! You sure as hell didn't seem to have any   
difficulties setting me ON FIRE!" Ranma raged, causing her to flinch away.  
"I think..." she stumbled over her words, trying to find the right   
ones, the one's that would keep his incandescent fury from falling upon her   
unprotected soul. "I think maybe it was because... You remember, don't   
you? The past? Back on the Moon?" she asked, her need to know tinting her   
tone brilliant.   
"Some. Bits and pieces. A name. Friends. What the hell does THAT  
got to do with anything?!" was his answer. "I don't see what some stupid   
prick from Mars who gets off talking to FIRE has to do with either me or   
the question at hand!"  
Rei deliberately ignored the prick comment with some effort, it   
had struck a bit close to home in her mind. "I - I've been having memories   
too. When I'm sleeping. In my dreams, I see the past. The Moon. The girls.   
It's all so real, that I know, I hope, it's not just a fantasy. And in those   
dreams, I've seen you. Not like you are now. But how you were. Back then.   
When you were my brother and you took care of me.  
"I wanted to have that again. I wanted that closeness. That love."   
She sighed, closing the book in her hands gently and replacing it upon the   
shelf. For once, Ranma bided his time, letting her decide whether or not   
she was going to manage to explain herself or just dig her grave that much   
deeper. "I've never been really close to anyone before. What with Mother   
dying when I was so young that I don't even remember her as anything but   
a name on a stone. And Father always away on his trips. Of course, there's   
always Grandpa, and I love him, really I do. But it's just not the same.   
Nothing's the same as it could have been. As it was."  
"At least you have a father instead of some prick like pop. My   
mom's alive and all, but I spent most of my life being no where near her. I   
spent most of my life going through HELL. Akane's not been drug all over   
the place but her life ain't much better than mine. Don't tell me OR her   
about how bad YOUR lot's been." Ranma interjected softly. "You've never   
seen hell until you've even lived a PORTION of our lives."  
"In my dreams, you were more than just my brother, Ranma." Rei   
continued as if he had never spoken. She had to, or she knew she would   
never finish. "You were my best friend. You were always there for me. No   
matter what. You never gave up on me. Never decided I wasn't worth the   
effort. You took my side. You fought for me. Oh, you fought for all the   
girls, but you fought for me first. That was my first memory from back   
then. The sounds of battle followed by your battered and bloody face   
looking down at me in my cradle with a simple smile."  
"I would have done that anyways. You just weren't willing to   
let me." Ranma muttered.   
"Now, you're my distant, and somewhat estranged cousin with barely   
any memory of any family beyond a exceedingly nasty SOB who calls himself   
your father. You don't know me any better than you know any of the other   
girls." She turned from the books and made her way to the table where she  
seated herself at one of the simple chairs there. Slouched over her hands   
on the cool stone of the tabletop, the long strands of her raven black hair  
draped down and effectively concealed her face from Ranma's view. "I'm a   
fool to think that things would change, but I had to try. I needed to know   
if it could be possible."  
"Hell! You couldn't believe that making me super crispy could   
possibly make things BETTER could you?!" Ranma was, in a word, stunned. But  
Rei pretty much ignored him again.  
"I've never had any real friends before. Sure, there's always the   
girls, and I suppose some of those harpies from T*A* Academy could possibly   
be considered my friends. But for most of my life, the only life I knew was   
the shrine. The only friends I had were Phobos and Demios. Two crows. I   
talked to them a lot, I was so lonely.   
"Thus I was seen as the 'crazy temple girl who talks to crows'. Not   
exactly the best board to hang if your in the market for a friend, you   
know? Then I got into T*A* thanks to Father, and those girls are majorly   
into seeing what they can get people to do. They're manipulative little  
bitches. All they do is use each other and then spit them out again when   
they're all done. And I got sucked right in to that little culture.  
"It caused me to put up walls around my self. I didn't want to left   
anyone in. Because if they got close enough to make me care, they were close   
enough to hurt me. Those walls were very firmly in place when Usagi showed   
up on my steps for the first time. I didn't know any other way to treat ..   
friends. So, I left those walls in place for a long time, until I finally   
figured out that they didn't want to hurt me. That they weren't going to   
abandon me.  
"By that time though, the damage was already done. I was the Ice   
Maiden. Not even my fires could thaw out the chill on my heart. Not that   
they didn't try. At first, anyways. After a while, they just sort of took   
me at face value and stopped trying for any real depth in our friendship.   
Which isn't to say no depth ever developed. Because it did. It couldn't be   
helped. Not with everything we went through together. But its not as deep   
as it could have been. If I just could have been a little more trusting,   
then maybe... but that doesn't matter.   
"What matters is that I did something that was totally and completely  
horrid to you, just for my own selfish reasons. You're a good man, Ranma.   
And you were beginning to be a good friend of mine, all on your own  
reconnaissance. But I really screwed that up in a properly royal fashion,   
didn't I? Blessed Fires, I'm just as bad as any of those little two-time,  
scamming bitches back at T*A* Academy, aren't I? I just can't let a good   
thing be."   
Ranma waited. He finally realized that the conversation was going   
somewhere.  
"What it all comes down to though, is that I'm sorry. For once in   
my life, I'm really and truly sorry about what I've done. And I know, beyond   
any hope of a sliver of a shadow of a doubt, I know that there is no way   
that I have any reason to believe that you would ever, could ever, forgive   
me for what I did. But I still must apologize for those actions. I'll   
understand completely if you never want to see me again. Anything you ask,   
I'll do. Maybe it's just a vain attempt to pay back the damage I caused   
but..."   
Finally, for the first time since beginning to speak, she looked   
up and met his steady gaze with her reddened violet eyes brimming with   
tears. "I just wanted someone to love me like I remembered you did."  
"That sounds like Akane's typical line of reasoning." He mused,   
turning those stormy eyes of his back to the study of his callused hands.   
"You want someone to care, so you do something that will invariably end   
up with that person getting the living hell beat out of them, possibly   
on a regular basis. Geez. What am I? Flypaper for violent people?!"   
With that last outburst, he shoved himself up out of his chair.   
Pacing around to stand across from her, he leaned back upon the table   
and ran one hand through his thick hair only to stop when he came to his   
unnaturally long braid. Pulling a good portion of that braid up over his   
shoulder, he pondered it for a time. After a while of trying to figure out   
his hair, he gave it up as pointless and looked back over his shoulder at  
Rei.   
"I really don't have a clue what I'm going to do with this mess.   
But, I promised Mom that I wouldn't check out before the year is up, so   
it looks like I got a couple more months around these parts before I head   
back to Nerima." He gestured upwards with his eyebrows, "And then there's   
Akane. I don't see how I can force her to go back to Nerima, so I'm afraid   
I'll have to keep her here. Not HERE here!" he hurriedly added, as if   
afraid that Rei would get the wrong idea, possibly with good cause. "But   
in Juuban. Somewhere."  
He sighed and pushed himself up off of the table. "Right now, I'm   
exhausted, so I'm going to go up and check on Akane then check into my   
sleeping roll. You can head home, or stay in the guest room. Whatever   
you want to do. At this point, I don't care if you turn into a purple   
gerbil."   
Then he wearily plodded out of the room and back the long trek   
to the main house. Behind him, he left Rei slowly regaining her composure.   
  
***********  
  
Ranma paused at the washroom for a glass of cold water before he   
went on into the room he would be sharing with Akane for the night. Looking   
into the mirror at his masculine features with the glass of water in his   
hands, he smirked wryly at his reflection. The irony didn't surpass him for   
once. He thought about what he had scene during that strange time after he   
changed when he wasn't in control.   
He remembered looking down into a still pool of steaming water and,   
instead of seeing his feminine reflection, he saw himself as a man. And he   
had control over that reflection. Seeing through the reflection's eyes, he   
watched as his girl-type had begun to step into the crystal clear depths,   
somehow knowing what would happen if she did.  
A sudden fear had gripped his mind and he struggled against the   
bonds that held his reflection still in the pool. He would have sighed with  
relief if he could when she stopped. They had spoken through kanji traced   
on the surface and somehow come to an understanding.   
Reflecting upon the fact that it would no longer be himself in   
control when he changed form, he slowly poured the glass over his head.  
Ranko smiled back at the mirror before she strode out of the room   
with a comfortable swagger. It was time to see her friend, reborn after so   
long.  
  
***********  
  
Akane was awake when Ranko walked into the room. Her puzzled   
features when Akane looked at the other girl prompted a response.   
"Ranma didn't want you to feel uncomfortable with him in the room,   
so he sent me instead." Ranko offered shyly.   
"B-but aren't you Ranma?" Akane was majorly confused by this point.  
"Actually, not really. I mean, this is his body and all, but   
something happened while he.. we.. were missing. And I got to come out. My   
name is Ranko." She smiled at Akane. "And long ago, your Ranma was my   
Shima. He was my first and foremost friend, nothing more. I loved him   
dearly, but I loved you as well. You were my first friend after Shima." She   
reached out and grasped the shocked Akane's hands in her own as she sat down  
on the bed beside her. "And once I learned from Ranma what had happened to   
you, I knew that I had to be there for you. I won't leave you alone,   
Akane. I promise."  
Akane smiled through the tears that threatened to spill down her   
face. Through all that had happened to her, she was discovering the truth   
to having real friends. And she did remember Ranko, dimly, from her dreams.   
It was good to have friends like the small red-head. Comforting. And   
comfort was what Akane needed right then.  
She suddenly broke into sobs as the full magnitude of what had   
happened broke upon her. Ranko merely smiled sadly and drew the sobbing   
girl into her embrace. For she truly had meant what she said, and there   
was nothing that would change that. Especially not now, that they were   
all the same age.   
  
***********  
  
A few days layer with a bone-deep weariness still plaguing his   
steps, Ranma made his way slowly back the long journey from school and   
up the stairs to the futon still rolled up in the corner of his room. Once   
there, he paused a moment to briefly brush a stray strand of hair from   
Akane's still slumbering features. She hadn't managed a full nights sleep   
in days, and he wasn't willing to make her move somewhere else until she   
finally managed to garner a whole night of rest.   
He crossed to the room and began the slow task of unrolling the   
narrow pad of the futon that had been his bed for the past few nights, as   
his normal resting place was still engaged by his engaged.  
"Ranma?" the sleepy voiced murmur disrupted him from his random   
reverie.   
He turned sharply towards Akane with the startled alertness of a   
gazelle. "Akane? You're awake." He mumbled, not quite awake enough to   
state the unobivious, though he was becoming more aware by the moment.  
"Ranma?" she whispered once more, though it sounded almost like a   
whimper.  
"What?" was Ranma's somewhat less than brilliant reply.  
"Ranma, I don't.." she trailed off, as if she wasn't quite certain   
of what words to use next.  
"Want me in here with you." Ranma finished for her, as he began   
gathering up his things. "That's okay. You've been through a lot, I guess.   
Seeing me probably doesn't help anything. I'll just go sleep in the guest   
room - no, wait, Rei might be there again."   
"Ranma." Akane attempted to interrupt his rapidly becoming   
monologue, but failed rather miserably.  
"I guess I can sleep in the living room. Or maybe the dining   
room..."  
"Ranma!" The tone was much firmer and her face was becoming more   
than slightly flushed.   
Ranma spun around, dropping everything he had previously gathered   
in the process. "What?" he yelped.  
"That's not what I meant." She sighed. "I-I don't mind if you   
sleep in here tonight." The concession was little more than a whisper,   
but it echoed in the spartan room.  
Ranma coloured slightly, but he somehow managed to refrain from   
making any comments.  
"What I meant..." she paused, collecting her thoughts. "What I   
meant was that I don't want... this..." she waved about the room with a   
hand that trembled slightly in the effort, though she wasn't hurt   
physically. "to affect..." another pause, this one slightly longer as she   
slowly raised her eyes to meet his. "us..." her cheeks coloured slightly   
as she mumbled the last word, letting her eyes drop to the floor as she   
did.  
Ranma stood there in silence for a moment before speaking. "What   
do you mean by us?" he asked, slowly.  
Her eyes met his again, she looked confused. "I meant us. You   
and me. Our - our relationship."  
"And what kind of relationship is that, Akane?" he knew that he   
was being rather cold, but he refused to allow any warmth to colour his   
responses. This had all the earmarks of being an important break-through   
in how they dealt with each other, and he wasn't going to ruin that.  
"What do you mean, Ranma? I-I thought we were starting to get   
close." Her voice was pained, her words anguished, but he didn't relent.  
"Close? You can't possibly think that we're getting close. Not   
when you still use me as your punching bag every time you get mad about   
something and I'm near by. It hurts when you hit me, Akane. It really   
does." She knew that it wasn't easy for him to admit that she managed   
to hurt him, but he did it.  
"But... you can always dodge! You dodge everything I throw at you   
in training, why don't you dodge when I'm- I'm angry?" she had some   
difficulty getting out the confession of her anger, but she managed.  
"I don't dodge because every time, every single time I have dodged   
before I just get hit again, usually a lot harder! And it's not always you   
who does the hitting either! No! It's pop! Claiming that I'm bringing   
dishonour to the family name! As if he has a clue about honour! Or it's   
your dad! All yelling that I've hurt his baby girl! When the hell is he  
gonna realize that you're an adult now, goddammit!" Ranma raged. "Do you   
really think that I've got any honour to be found in allowing my wife to   
beat the hell out of me for any little thing?!"  
He paused, thinking about what he had last said, as he watched   
Akane's eyes widen and her jaw drop. "Dammit. I shouldn'ta said that. Not   
with the other girls still after me. Now I've really screwed things up." He  
flopped down on the ground and pulled his knees up towards him.  
"Ranma?"  
"What?" His voice was sullen, and he refused to look up at her.  
"Did - did you really mean that?"  
"Mean what?"   
"Mean what you said - about your wife."  
"Maybe, why?"  
"Does that mean... that you lo... like me?" she had learned about   
his reactions to the L word.  
He finally looked up at her with a strange look in his sapphire   
eyes. "Like you? Yeah. I guess. But, I can't..." he gathered his thoughts,   
"I can't let myself feel anything more until you learn to control your  
anger." She looked crestfallen at that, but he continued. "You keep on   
claiming that you're a martial artist. But a true martial artist can control   
his or her temper."  
"What about Ryouga? Or Mousse?"  
"No matter what you might think about Ryouga, he's not angry all of   
the time. A lot of the time, yeah, but not all of the time, like you seem to   
be. He's depressed a lot. And he's got reason for it, though it's his place   
to tell you, not mine. Mousse is a lot like Ryouga, except he was raised to   
believe that might makes right. In his culture it may be true, but in coming   
to ours, he just doesn't fit in. They're both martial artists, not because   
they happen to be good at it, but because they're dedicated to the Art and   
because they do have control. I'd be dead, several times over, and a lot of   
innocent people as well if they didn't. You, on the other hand, don't have   
any control at all. Or any dedication. Breaking bricks isn't going to make   
you a better martial artist. It just makes you better at breaking bricks.   
Martial arts is more than that. Much, much more."  
Akane was almost in tears by that point, but she had to ask. "But   
you never try to train me. You never hit me. You hit other girls, just not   
me. Sometimes I think that it's because you hate me. Why not train me? When   
you came you brought so many people that were on your level and I just keep   
falling so far behind."   
Ranma looked positively uncomfortable, but he managed to come up   
with a decent answer for once. "It's part of who I am, Akane. I don't hit   
girls, and I don't hit people who can't defend themselves. It's what I was   
raised with, Kami-sama only knows how. Now, I've hit girls in the past,   
true. But the main reason for not hitting girls is simply that most of the  
girls I grew up with fell into the second category. They couldn't defend  
themselves from my attacks. Which made it really, really unfair to them. I've  
hit Ukyo, Shampoo, Kodachi, and a few other girls since I came to Tokyo, but   
they could defend themselves from my attacks. Sure, I won, but then, I'm the  
best. I couldn't stand to lose, so I didn't. It doesn't mean I liked hitting   
them" He shrugged.  
"You though, can't defend yourself. I'm not saying it's cause you're   
weak or nothing. Hell, I've got the scars to prove that's wrong. It's cause   
you never bothered to learn to defend yourself. You're all for charging   
straight at your opponent and trying to run him over. It just don't work. Not  
on my level, or on anyone else's, besides you and the Horde o' Hentai. And   
it's gotten to the point where it doesn't really even work on your level   
either. Plus, you're brutal. I watched you fighting with the Horde o'   
Hentai, and I know you didn't have to be that rough with them. It doesn't   
take much to knock a person unconscious, though it does take some finesse.   
You didn't need to break bones, though you did."  
Akane was in tears, almost to the point of sobbing, but Ranma forced  
himself to ignore that fact and continue.  
"I know I'm mean and even cruel sometimes. But that's how I was   
raised. It's what I know. I don't know how to be nice and sweet and gentle   
and romantic and all that stuff like the other guys at school can be. It's   
not me. You want that? You should go find it in one of those other guys.   
Because it's one of the reasons why you should think before you hit me. I   
mean, sometimes I know it's my fault, and those times, I take the hits   
because I deserve it. Other times, it's not my fault, and that's the hits   
that make me angry, and makes me stop liking you a little bit."  
He got up and moved across the room to kneel on the floor next to   
Akane, who turned her tear-stained face away from him. "Look at me, Akane."  
"I don't want to." She muttered.  
He wouldn't have any of it. He reached over and gently turned her   
face to look at him. "Look at me, Akane. I would never lie to you. I will   
never lie to you. Believe me. I swear upon what honour I have left that it's   
true."  
She looked up at him through eyes blurred with tears and nodded   
slowly.   
"Now, if you don't want Raetheon and what he did to you to come   
between us, that's totally up to you. If you actually want something to   
exist between us besides him, I've given you my reasoning on it. You want  
to make something of it, it's your turn. Now sleep on it, and we'll talk   
again in the morning." Then he leaned down and gently pressed his lips to   
her forehead in a fatherly fashion.  
Walking over to his futon, he clambered in and pulled the thin sheet  
up over his shoulders. "'night, Akane." He muttered as he drifted off.  
Akane lay for a few minutes still. One hand delicately laid up the  
spot where he had kissed her. Then she slowly turned her head and looked at   
his sleeping form. "I want to be your friend, Ranma. And maybe, someday, we   
can be something more than just friends. Good night, Ranma."   
  
***********  
  
Ranma awoke to find himself in a very foggy place. He climbed up and   
looked around, only to discover that he was no longer in his room, and had  
instead been lying upon a marble floor.   
"Where the hell am I?" he snarled, staggering forward into the   
blinding fog bank.   
He didn't know how long he traveled. Only that it was a long time   
and his feet were beginning to ache, when he suddenly came upon tall wall   
that scaled many, many times his own height. The glossy obsidian surface   
glinted his reflection back at him rather sinisterly. Then, off to the   
side, he heard a muffled giggle.  
There, standing not even ten feet away from him and leaning against   
the wall in complete ease, was his curse form. The red-headed succubae was   
giggling apparently at the disoriented expression on his face.  
"Well, if it isn't the magnificently manly Saotome Ranma." She   
chortled, coming over to lounge against the wall at his side with an almost   
insolent attitude. "I'm sure we've met. I'm Ranko. That's it. Just... Ranko.  
Last names for the peasants hadn't been invented yet when I walked the lunar   
surface a free woman. It's kinda my fault you got stuck with my shape and   
what's left of my soul, after who knows how long, floating around in you.   
Some sicko tried to make me a part of his harem while my guardian wasn't   
around. I created the curse of the springs in response. The sicko got to   
be the first, and only, Guide. I think his name was Kuno Ikari, or   
something."  
"Kuno? It's Kuno's fault??"  
"Well, something like that. You've got a Kuno bothering you too?  
Gee, what a cowinkydink." She smirked at him, then glanced up. "Oh,   
what'd'ya know. My guardian's coming."  
"Guardian? What? Where?!"   
"There." She pointed upwards in a fashion that could only be   
described as casual.   
Ranma's eyes darted towards the skies rapidly. All he could detect   
however was an uncanny glowing of the upper realms of the fog bank. The glow   
was steadily increasing in brightness though.  
Then suddenly, the source of the glow was upon him! He flinched   
backwards from the heat of the massive terraces of incandescence holocaust.   
As the searing torridity burnt away the surrounding fog, he slowly grew   
accustom to the warmth and rose his eyes to meet the newest arrival.  
The man was, in a word, Ranma. But not the same as Raetheon the   
Destroyer. No. This man was older, but with the same cocky attitude as   
Ranma. He smirked at the younger man, even as his hand alit gently upon   
the hilt of an apparently broken sword.  
"Are you from my future?" Ranma whispered haltingly.  
"No. From your past. I'm ancient history." The older man replied   
easily. Ranko giggled in the background.  
"Who-who are you?"  
"My name is Shima, of the Royal House of Mars. I was the Heir   
Apparent to the War Throne of Mars. I am the Champion Among Mortals For   
The Lord Phoenix."  
"That bastard Saffron?!" Ranma snarled, his emerald katana forging   
itself in his grasp.  
"Saffron? Hardly." Shima snorted in contempt. "I serve none but the  
True Phoenix."  
Ranma relaxed, though he didn't dismiss his katana, then realized   
what Shima had said earlier. "So you're the great Shima, huh? I've heard   
of you a bit."   
Shima looked bemused. "So you're the great Saotome Ranma, huh?   
That's a nice knife you got there, kid. But when are you going to grow   
up and get yourself a real sword?"  
"This is a real sword!" Ranma fulminated.  
"Maybe. But once you've barred the Sword of the High Prince, you'll  
know it's nothing more than a butter knife." Shima replied, with infuriating   
calm. "The Sword waits for none but he whom it doth chose. The Sword has   
chosen you, Saotome Ranma. Now it is awaiting you. Find it and free it. As   
I did many years anon. Now, the day is growing bright, and you must soon   
awake. But worry not. We shall meet again."  
Then Shima spread his massive wings bright and launched himself   
back into the heavens.  
"The Sword is in a secured place, Ranma." Ranko stated, dragging   
him from his reverie. "You'll find it, if you can find some culture."   
Then everything went black.  
  
***********  
  
Ranma awoke with a start into the predawn light. He quickly mopped   
the sweat from his brow and pulled himself from the bed. Glancing over, he   
assured himself that Akane remained asleep.  
"I'll find it, if I can find some culture." Ranma mused as he pulled   
on a clean shirt before heading out for his morning exercise. "Now, what did   
she mean by that?"  
  
  



	30. Least Sword

Chapter Two: Least Sword

Author's Interruption: Sorry about holding you back from your ravagement of my struggling work, but I've got an announcement I want to put in here.

To the victims of the brutal assault upon my home nation, I offer my most humble regrets and deepest respect and regard. Regrets that anyone would be so foolish as to attempt such a blatantly idiotic thing as to lash out at Americans in the hope that we might somehow crumble from that assault. Americans come together in times of travail. We do not crumble, and we will never bow down before the hand of a base born coward. Respect for those brave men and women who gave their all to bring our people to safety in the calling of their chosen professions. And last, but NEVER least, Regard, for how can anyone see the devastation that was inflicted upon those suddenly bereft families and not hold them and the communities that rallied about them with anything less? 

Sorry you came second, but... To ChibiHalo, my most ardent reviewer and one of the people who's comments have somehow managed to galvanize me into action (or at least enough action that I actually got this thing posted here before two months had past from the typing of the last word...), I solemnly dedicate this chapter to you. Thanks for the support.

Chapter Two: Least Sword

Within the hours and days that followed the tragic yet inconclusive affair with Raetheon, an odd sort of peace descended upon the Senshi both Inner and Outer and their sometimes ally, sometimes enemy, Saotome Ranma. Akane had moved herself from Ranma's home to the spare chamber at Rei's temple. Rei and Ranma had somehow managed to come to a form of truce between them and were behaving, if not as best friends again, at least as civil acquaintances. There had been no sign of any attacks for days.

Yes, peace had truly came to the oft troubled district of Tokyo, and Ranma was not loath to take advantage of this almost unnerving calm. He used the time to build on his blossoming friendship with the other Senshi. And though oft teased by the amorous Minako and sometimes even Makoto, having come out in the open with his confusing personal relationships, they didn't push him as far as they might another handsome devil. In time, Usagi managed to forgive him for yelling at her the other night, not that the offer of ice cream didn't help. 

Ami was nervous when around him for some time after his link to Ranko was revealed that night, but she eventually warmed up to his charm. Much to Akane's ire, all of the girls were friendly towards the fairly optimistic young man. Even the often distant Haruka, Michiru, and Hotaru seemed willing to give friendship a shot. 

The only cold spots in his vision though were the ones that bothered him most. He still didn't understand why Rei had acted as she had on that fateful night that had lead to so much trouble. And those daemons the girls seemed to rely on so much! Didn't they understand what sort of hideous, bloodthirsty beasts they were? And the pedophile after little Usagi-chan! He was at LEAST ten years older than her for crying out loud! 

Beyond that, the last of the Senshi was starting to bug him. Every thing he did, she turned the cold shoulder to him. And to make matters worse, he had heard her talking with the daemons the other day! 

Then there was Raetheon. And that strange dream he had had the other day. Things were confusing enough as they were. Why did they always have to get worse?!

These were the things that troubled the mind of the young Saotome one fine morning. Nodoka had returned from her trip quite irate two days before, and he was currently hiding out in the rafters to avoid another one of the lectures she had began sprouting not too terribly long after she had gotten over the fact that he really was back. 

"Gah." He muttered to himself, as he shifted position from laying on his back to his side. From where he was situated, he could see the hall phone lying on the end table below him. For a moment he debated calling the temple to see how Akane was, then decided against it as he would probably have to talk to Rei or his grandfather. 

He had just decided to go over personally and see how Akane was doing when the phone shrilled below. Startled from the noise, he nearly came crashing down from his perch. At the last second though, he managed to hook his feet around the rafter and swing down to just within reach of the source of the aggravating noise.

Flipping the phone up from its cradle, he caught it and nestled in between his shoulder and his ear as he reached for the base. 

"Moshi moshi." He muttered distractedly into the receiver. "Saotome Ranma desu." 

"Ranma-san?" Came the reply, distorted from its travel over the copper wires of the lines. "This is Haruka."

"Hai, Haruka-san." Ranma answered as he finally managed to grab the base and swing back up into the rafters. "What's up?" 

"Well, you know that new museum opening across from that mall Usagi and the others seem to like so much?"

"Ah.. I think I've heard of that one. Um, the Hakubutsukan no Bugei, right?" 

There was a brief burst of muffled laughter and the sound of Haruka talking to someone, probably Michiru, off the line for a moment, then she was back. "We thought you'd know about that one, given your past and all."

"Well, um, okay. What about it?" 

"Michiru and I are going to be playing at the opening tomorrow. There's only one problem."

"Eh? What's that?"

"The guy who usually helps us get everything set up is sick. Mono, from what he told Michiru."

"Oh, man. That's a tough break."

"You're telling me. With Chikara in the hospital, we don't have any one to help. None of the girls really want to be in a museum."

"What about Ami-chan?"

"Ami-chan isn't very comfortable in the atmosphere of that particular museum."

"Oh. Gee. That's not good, is it?"

"No. Cause now we're getting desperate."

"Figures. No one calls me until they're desperate."

"Ranma-san..."

"The c-cats aren't gonna be there, are they?"

"No."

"Then you just got yourself a roady."

"Roady?"

"Something I picked up somewhere. It means someone who helps a band move stuff and set up. At least, I think it does."

"Well... that's great. See you tomorrow then."

"What time?"

"6:00." 

"Alright."

With that, the receiver was settled back in it's cradle and the entire operation was carefully lowered back on to the table.

Ten minutes later, Ranma was walking out the gates on his way to the temple.

***********

tap tap tap 

tap tap tap

tap tap tap

After three minutes of continuous repetition, the annoying tapping sound was enough to drag even Akane out of the depths of her slumber. Storming over to the window, she threw it open with enough force to cause the wooden storm shutters rebound twice off of the side of the building.

"What?!" she demanded in an angry hiss once she had finally gotten the window all of the way open.

"Akane! Calm down! It's just me!" Ranma whispered back from his position outside the window.

"And you can't come like a normal person because?" Akane asked, stepping back to allow him to swing inside.

Ranma favored her with a particularly exasperated look in response to the rather impertinent question. "Well, let's see... There's the fact that it's after twenty two... oh, wait. Gee, you think maybe it's because I don't want to have to talk to Rei, the peusdo-rocker boy, or Grandfather?" 

Akane controlled her temper with a visible effort. "You don't have to be a jerk about it! I just asked! If you're going to be that way about it, why didn't you just come when they were out earlier?!" 

"And I would know that they were out how exactly?"

"There's this thing called a telephone, you know. I hear they're all the rage lately." Akane replied sarcastically, spinning around to face away from him.

"Would you rather I didn't come over at all?" Ranma countered, staring holes into her back.

"Would you rather I wasn't here for you to come over to see?" Akane offered, not even bothering to turn around to see the reaction her off-hand comment was causing.

"Yes! Yes, all right! I told you that I'd never lie to you! So, yes! I would so much prefer that you had stayed in Nerima where you were SAFE!" Ranma finally exploded. Though his voice and demeanor were fierce, his stormy-blue eyes told an entirely different story altogether.

There was a lengthy pause that stretched between the two inhabitants of the room. Then Akane's shoulders shuddered slightly, once, then again. Ranma stretched out a hand, his expression troubled. Then, before he could do anything more, she spun about, tears sparkling on her face.

"You don't care about me at all, do you?!" She sobbed. "I'm just another silly girl, throwing myself at you like always, isn't that right?! Just another silly girl who can't protect herself! An ugly, mannish FREAK!" 

"Akane, that's not what I meant!" Ranma's voice cracked mid-range as he continued to reach towards her.

She smashed his hand away. "Don't touch me! I don't want your pity!" 

"Akane..." he tried again, wincing as her words reached his ears.

"Dammit, Ranma! All I wanted..." her voice trailed off slightly as she looked towards the ground. "All I ever wanted was... was..." she looked up at him, thin, wet trails marking her cheeks. "you to care for me." She whispered, looking down again. "I should have known that someone like you could never care for a freak like me. I'm just damaged goods now."

"Dammit, Akane! Listen to me!" He hissed, grabbing her shoulder with one hand and using the other to tilt her face up to meet his gaze, ignoring the shudder that went through her body at his touch. "Listen to me, okay? Just this once?" He whispered, wiping the trails of tears from her face with a gentle thumb. She nodded once, fighting the urge to tear away from him and hide in the corner. "You are not ugly. Do you hear me? You're not ugly and your not a 'mannish freak'!"

She directed her reddened face to his under her own power this time. "But... but you always call me 'uncute'.. and.. and 'unsexy' and a tomboy..."

"Akane, don't take this the wrong way, but you are uncute. Hey! I told you not to take it the wrong way! Dammit!" He stormed at the sudden crestfallen expression that covered her face. "Hell. Look at me, okay? When you look at me, what do you see? And don't let what you think about me mix things up, okay?" 

She looked confused for a moment then began stumbling into a basic, if slightly elaborate, description of his appearance, gaining confidence as she continued. "Um... unruly, long raven hair tied back in a rough braid? Sapphire eyes set not too far apart. But not to close together, either! Under flaring eyebrows. A long, imperial nose set over full red lips," she blushed rather darkly at that, "and a strong chin. High cheekbones that colour only lightly when you're embarrassed. Wide shoulders that support arms that ripple with muscles and long fingered, delicate hands. A deep chest signaling great endurance. Taut abdominal muscles." Another blush, darker if possible. "A narrow waist connecting to powerful legs and graceful feet. I see a ... man. A very ... handsome ... man." Her words fell back to their original stumbling pace at the end and she redirected her gaze back to the floor, confused as to how that particular dug out confession would contribute to the argument Ranma seemed to be trying to make.

Ranma, for his part, was blushing a bit himself, though the relative darkness hid the 'light colour' fairly well. "Right. You said handsome, right? Not cute? Handsome?"

She nodded, embarrassed that he was pressing for the compliment.

"Don't you see, Akane? That's what I mean. I'm not cute. I am totally uncute. In fact, I don't know anyone who would describe me as cute!" 

She looked up at him slowly, comprehension slowly dawning in her brown eyes. 

"Akane, you are my friend. Really. Sometimes I think you're the best friend I have. And you might be an uncute tomboy, but is that really such a bad thing to be? You're not a freak, Akane. If anything, I'm the one who's earned that title. I mean, at least, you being an uncute tomboy is natural, I wasn't meant to be one but a bit of cool water and BANG!" 

A small giggle escaped her lips. Ranma smiled down at her softly in response. 

"That's the Akane I know. Don't get yourself in such a twist next time, okay?" He asked.

Then all joviality was gone as a serious expression contorted her expression. "Then why did you say that you never wanted me to come here?"

He sighed in exasperation. He had hoped that she had forgotten about that. Placing both hands on her shoulders this time noticing the shudder with concern, he gazed down into her eyes with an earnest expression on his face. "I didn't want you to come, Akane. That's why. Dammit, Akane, why do you think I left you there?!"

"Because Auntie Nodoka made you?"

"Akane, look at me. Do you really think I would let that work if I didn't want it to?"

She shrugged weakly. She actually didn't know. And she was wearing herself out trying to keep from running from him. As it was she had to keep telling herself that it was only Ranma and he wouldn't ever hurt her.

"Akane." His tone was rather disapproving, as if he expected better somehow. "You should know me better than that by now."

"Sorry." She smiled weakly in response.

"But anyway. I left because it was getting to be too damn dangerous for you to be around me." His eyes squeezed shut against the pain of memory. "For God's sake, Akane! Saffron nearly killed you! Just because of me! It was my fault you almost died! You understand me? MY FAULT! And the wedding! Don't even get me started on that!" He let his hands drop from her shoulders and turned away.

"Ranma..." She didn't reach out as he had. Instead, she rubbed at her arms and hugged herself and looked to the ground.

"And now this." He sighed, glancing back over his shoulder at her, then back down at the ground as he saw that she wasn't even trying to reach out to him. "I'm supposed to protect you, Akane. But I went and let this happen." He shoved a hand roughly though his hair. "I'm a failure. I'm just a screwed-up little joke. Go back to Nerima, Akane. I can't protect you. So stay away from me. It'll be safer for you."

Akane glared at his back and her lips compressed into a thin line of annoyance and determination. Then, for the first time since he had come in, she moved from her spot. Ranma was abruptly confronted with the sight of a sincere Akane popping up in his line of vision. 

"Ranma, I listened to you. Now it's your turn." He tried to turn his head away, but her hands, rough and callused from years of slamming them through concrete, appeared on either side of his face and forced him to look at her. He could feel the way she was trembling through the pressure on the sides of his face and his expression slowly grew more and more worried. "You. Are. Not. A. Failure. Do you understand me? You're not a failure! You protected me! Look! I'm still alive! I'm all in one piece!"

"Not one piece." Was his sullen answer as his eyes twisted away from looking at her.

Her eyes narrowed. "You blame yourself for that?! Damn you, Saotome Ranma! You weren't even there! Or are you blaming yourself because that bastard looked like you?! Is that it?!"

"That's not it and you know it!" Suddenly his eyes were boring holes into her with the blazing fury behind them. His hands reached up and grabbed her wrists, pulling her hands from his face with surprising force. "I should have been there! I was supposed to protect you!"

"What, were you in on it?! Did you help him plan how to rape me?! Is that it?! God! It must be! Why the hell didn't I see it?! After all your precious Ranko led me to the son-of-a-bitch!" She raged, using her anger to fight her terror, trying to free her arms to beat at his chest. 

"It wasn't her fault, dammit! She didn't want to hurt you and you know it! Something happened to her down there and I plan on finding out what it is! But until I do, you gotta realize that that wasn't her fault!"

"I don't care how much she didn't want to hurt me! I was violated by that bastard! HE STOLE MY HUSBAND'S GIFT! He stole it from me, Ranma." Suddenly, all of the fight was gone, and she just hung limply from his grasp. "He looked so like you... and that was the worst part of all." He gently lowered his arms until she was sitting upon the floor and released her wrists. "It... it was like it was you..." tears formed and trickled down her face, "like you were the one hurting me... like you were enjoying hurting me..." she sobbed, choking on her words. 

"Akane, I'd never hurt you! I'd never do that to you! Never!" He replied, sinking to his knees beside her.

She looked up and smiled sadly. "I know that, Ranma. Really I do. But he was so like you... and I so wanted you to come and take me away... but you never came... never came until it was too late..."

Ranma's vision blurred oddly, but he spoke with a clear voice. "I tried to get there, Akane. I wanted to take you from him. Ranko told me what she had done. She was ready to destroy herself because of it. I tried so hard! But I failed you! I failed you, Akane." 

"You did not! You came, Ranma! You came! Like you always do! Maybe I got hurt, but you came! You fought for me! You protected me! I'm here! I'm alive! Because of you!" 

"You came here because of me. You're hurt because of me. Because of me! It's my fault you're even here! And now it's my fault that you're scared of me."

"I'm not scared of you."

He reached out and grasped her wrist, holding it up to her face and forcing her to acknowledge her trembling hand. "I'm not blind, Akane. I can see you shaking every time I touch you or you touch me. I know fear, Akane. And I see it all over you whenever I'm around. You're putting that bastard and me together in your mind. I know you can't help it, but it still hurts."

"Ranma..."

"Akane. Don't lie to me, okay? If you're scared, just tell me. I'll leave you alone. I'll give you all the time and space you want. Whatever you need. Just don't lie to me." Ranma said, releasing her wrist and standing. 

As he stepped towards the window and prepared to leave, she clambered up to her knees and grabbed his wrist. When he looked back at her, she spoke.

"Don't go. I don't want you to leave." She said softly, climbing all the way to her feet. "I came because I felt that I needed to be with you." She took at slow step forward, coming up to face him. "I came because I wanted to. Because I wanted to help. I won't lie to you anymore, alright, Ranma? Just don't go." She finished, locking gazes with him.

"I'll give you whatever you need. Do whatever you need me to so that you can be comfortable around me again." He murmured, staring into her eyes.

"What I want... what I need... is for you to be who you are. I need you to be you. That's all." She closed the distance between them, placing her free hand upon the cloth of the red Chinese shirt covering his chest. Looking down at her hand, she continued. "I came here because of you, it's true." She looked back up at him. "But, I wasn't safer with you not there. I was in more danger than ever." At his puzzled, disbelieving expression, she elaborated. "I was in danger from myself. I... I don't want to be without you." She whispered, as she released his wrist and reached up to brush at his wild hair.

At some point, her gently questing fingers managed to get themselves woven tightly into his braid. But he didn't bother to help her untangle her fingers from his hair. Instead, he allowed her to pull his head down, and softly, tentatively allowed his lips to brush against hers. 

Her eyes slid shut against the screams in her head saying that it was Raetheon not Ranma and that he was going to hurt her again. She countered with the fact that Raetheon was in no way as gentle as Ranma and that Ranma would never hurt her. He promised. He promised to protect her.

And more than that. She wanted this.

***********

Ranma awoke in a very familiar place. Dense banks of fog pressed in on him from all sides. A massive blank obsidian wall stood before him. Realizing where he was, he slammed his head against the unyielding stone in a futile gesture of helplessness.

"Well, gee, that's sure using your head." 

Ranma spun about, searching every which way to find the crimson headed seductress. Yet, nothing materialized from the fog to meet his searching gaze. 

"Up here, dummy."

He gazed upwards, only to spot a ledge some fifteen to twenty feet above him in a location where there had been nothing just moments before. A smirking red-head looked down upon him lazily from her perch. 

"Well, hello there! So good of you to finally find me." She giggled, reaching forwards and flipping down to stand before him.

"You're not Ranko." Ranma stated as calmly as a man in his position could.

"Well, of course I am! You know anyone else with a body like mine?" she pouted, wrapping her arms about his neck.

"You know what I mean. I know about Ranko. She's awake now. You can't fool me any longer." Ranma replied, removing her arms from his neck and letting them drop to her sides.

The smaller woman sighed, her self-confident smirk fading away to be replaced by a small frown. "I am Ranko, you know. Just not the same part. Everyone has two parts of a soul. One part which dies when the body expires, and one that lives on. I'm the part of Ranko that died years ago. I got to grow up. She didn't. Sometimes, I really envy her."

"So you're saying that the both of you are Ranko?"

"Well, we were both Ranko, at any rate. She's more Ranko now then I am, to be honest. After all, she's still alive." Then she stopped, took a deep breath, and smiled up at him. "But, let's not dwell on the past shall we? Have you managed to delve into the mysteries of culture yet?"

Ranma shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs that her abrupt change in topic had caused. "Huh?! I mean, no. I didn't even get what you said the first time!"

"Culture, Ranma. You know, places like libraries, concert halls, museums... culture!" She explained, gesturing about with exasperation. 

"Well, I'm supposed to be going to a museum tomorrow..." He offered.

"It's a start. When are you supposed to go?"

"6:00."

"6:00?!"

"Yeah, why?"

"Shit! It's already 5:15! You've overslept!"

Then everything went black. 

***********

Ranma leapt wildly from the temple wall and dashed home for a change of clothes. Mere minutes later, he was racing towards the museum and Haruka and Michiru. 

***********

As of 5:49, the trio had finally managed to finish getting everything set up. Haruka had already changed into her tux and Michiru was off getting changed into her dress. Ranma was sprawled along the edge of the stage near where Haruka sat upon the piano bench.

"Ranma-san?"

"You could just call me Ranma, you know."

Haruka smiled wryly at the remark, then started again. "Alright then. Ranma."

"What's up?" he asked, bending his head back so he could look at her from his prone position.

"You know, there's nothing more for you to do. You could go and look around the museum if you'd like."

Ranma redirected his gaze back towards the ceiling for a few minutes as he thought about it. Then he nodded and pushed himself up into a sitting position. 

"Actually, I've heard that I needed to get a bit of culture so I guess I'll take you up on that. When do you need me back here?"

"Oh, don't worry, I'm sure we'll be able to find you." Haruka replied. 

"Thanks. I'll see you then." And Ranma hopped down off the stage and vanished into the dimly lit halls of the Hakubutsukan no Bugei.

***********

He had been wandering through the convoluted passages of the museum for some time. Several parts of the museum still showed traces of the construction that had been occurring for the past several months. There were partially disassembled wooden crates tucked away in corners here and there, straw and foam pellets spilling out at random. 

However, despite the tiny bits of chaos scattered about, he soon found himself in an area that was obviously not ready to be opened to the public. Curious, he continued in his wanderings, ignoring the signs hanging from the wall warning danger. Soon he was following the echoing sounds of people busily scurrying about behind closed doors.

It was just such a door that he came to in time. A questing toe nudged it gently, sending it swinging open on silent hinges. The vision that opened up before his eyes was startling.

It wasn't as if he wasn't expecting something like what he saw. Quite the contrary, really. It was more like, he hadn't been expecting the way in which it had been constructed. 

There, hanging along the northern wall were graceful tiers of naginata arrayed on carefully crafted racks, protected from inquisitorial hands behind Plexiglas panels. The eastern wall held cases of nunchuku and sai. All along the western wall were rows and rows of flails and axes alongside of bows and arrows. The last wall, the southern wall, in which was set the door he peered through was a single case that ran the entire length of the wall from floor to ceiling. Inside of the case were almost innumerable amounts of swords and daggers of various lengths and age. 

But the most striking visage of all was located in the direct center of the room. There a single pedestal of pure white marble rose from the black granite floor. In an unusual stand that held the blade hilt upright instead of the traditional way, was an uniquely hilted katana. Instead of a traditional tsuka for such an ancient tachi, this Koto held a European hilt atop the flawless folded and forged blade. A shira-saya lay beneath in on the top of the pedestal. The entire set-up was covered by a Plexiglas cube. 

Ranma stared at the tachi for some time. Then he blinked. Rubbed his eyes. Blinked again. He took a step back to look for the plaque that was usually right out side the doorway naming the room, but it hadn't been put up yet. He finally stepped all of the way into the room and crossed until he was right beside the center case. 

Placing one hand upon the case he stared intently at the sword.

"That's wrong." He whispered to himself. "The blade is wrong."

"You're right."

The sudden, new voice startled him into spinning around to stare at the man who had intruded on his privacy. 

He was tall, skinny, sunburnt, and definitely gajin. His blonde hair hung down in his green eyes and spiked out wildly everywhere else. The skin on his long aquiline nose was peeling badly under his wire rimmed glasses. His black dress shirt was gray with dust from a night spent unpacking and setting things up. Loose tan pants hung loosely down over his worn brown loafers. 

He held out his hand as a gesture of friendship. "I'm Professor Passhem. Well, Milo Passhem at any rate. Archeologist. And who might you be?"

Ranma shrugged as he accepted the grasp. "I'm Saotome Ranma, heir of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts."

"A resident Master? Visiting my display? How gratifying!" 

"I'm just wandering through here, really."

"That's alright! I saw you stopping to look at the Sword of the First Emperor and thought I might speak to you." Milo replied as way of explanation. "You're right about the blade. It's totally wrong for it. I was very surprised to find that blade so near to a European style hilt at the dig."

"That's not what I meant." Ranma sounded annoyed. 

Milo looked puzzled. "Well, then what did you mean?"

"I meant that," he waved back at the blade, "That hilt shouldn't have a blade. And that blade is wrong."

"And what are your credentials? What school did you graduate from? I certainly haven't heard of you in any of my trade publications." Milo was beginning to get annoyed.

"I'm still in high school. I haven't graduated from anywhere!" 

"Then I definitely think I know quite a bit more than you do about whether or not that hilt and that blade belong together!"

"Whatever."

Ranma was finally fed up and, with one last look at the encased sword, he stormed out of the room. 

Behind him, Professor Milo Passhem's angry expression faded away into a definitely evil smile. 

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Saotome. Please feel assured that we will be meeting again." He murmured before fading away into the shadows of the room.

***********

"Hey, you're back early!" Haruka called, as Ranma stormed into the room. 

"Had a problem with a idiot." He explained as he hopped up on the stage.

"Well, we were just about to get started if you want to watch." Michiru offered. 

"Sure. Anything to get my mind off of that annoying gajin." Ranma replied, hopping down and wandering over to take a seat at the back.

***********

The music was beautiful and Ranma allowed himself to be lost in it. And in being lost in the music, it allowed another to speak to him.

***********

He found himself led to a simple glade in the middle of a forest somewhere. A tiny stream trickled through the center past a large granite boulder which sat in the center. A crudely made hut crouched on the edge of surrounding forest.

He turned about slowly, taking in his surroundings with a sort of bemusement brought about by the music which had led him there. He had rotated himself at least five times before he realized that he had an audience for his antics. A soft-faced, little, red-headed girl perched atop the boulder by the spring. Bright blue eyes peeked out from a dirt stained face under a ragged mass of matted red hair.

She was dressed in a simple shift made of poorly tanned leather and pounded tree-bark. A rough hooded cloak made of rawhide draped her thin shoulders, the hair still remaining upon it and sticking out every which way in ragged patches. A long stick with a clumsy point made a rude spear that sat beside her, leaning against the side of the boulder, the butt digging into the ground. She toyed with the tip of her spear as she smiled shyly at him.

He stopped and gazed at her. Slowly memory and recognition dawned within his mind. This little waif was very familiar to him. 

"I know you." He whispered.

She nodded. "You named me."

"I called you Kodomo no Mori." 

"At first. But I'm not called Moriko, that just doesn't fit me."

"There was a fight." He murmured.

"Yes. There was. You helped me avenge my family."

"Then, coming back..."

"Your friend came to talk to you."

"And I didn't call you Kodomo no Mori. I called you... Kodomo no.. Ran."

"That's right. But your friend thought it was too long."

"I remember. He shortened it. He called you Ran.. ko. Um.. you... you're Ranko aren't you. The real one."

She smiled and hopped down off of her boulder. Skipping over to him she held her arms out and he picked her up. "That's right! I'm so glad you remember!" She snuggled up against him. "You were my first friend..."

"I remember. And you were my friend as well. You never cared about who I was. You didn't care that I was the Phoenix Prince. I was just your friend." He murmured, walking over and sitting down on the boulder. "You used to live here, didn't you."

"A long time ago." She whispered. "Before I met you." 

"You live in me, don't you. Just like the other Ranko does."

"She's not in you. She can talk to you, but she's not part of you. Just like Shima. He's not part of you."

"I don't understand."

"That's okay." She leaned up and kissed his cheek. "You don't have too, yet." 

She looked off into the distance suddenly and nodded. "The spirits here say that it's time for you to go back."

"I'll miss you." He muttered, blushing lightly.

"You don't have to, silly! I'm always with you." 

And she brushed her lips against his cheek once more before she and everything around him faded back into the concert hall.

***********

It took a good while before everything was back at Haruka and Michiru's home, but they did it. As usual, Setsuna was no where to be found. According to Hotaru, she had left only seconds before the trio had gotten into the building. 

When Hotaru had first spotted Ranma walking in the door unburdened, she raced over and glomped onto his waist. He chuckled nervously as he brushed her hair. Michiru just smiled knowingly at him and Haruka just laughed out right.

"Hey there, Hotaru-chan." 

"Hi, Ranma-san!" she crowed, somehow tightening her grip.

He let out a low grunt before continuing speaking. "That's a strong grip you got there, Hotaru-chan... mind letting up a bit so I can sit down?" He asked. 

She released him, and he was allowed to find a seat, but as soon as he had managed to settle himself in it, she had clambered into his lap. He looked at Haruka and Michiru pleadingly, but they just smiled and shook their heads. So, he just put up with it. 

Besides, she spent a good portion of the time sick, so he was actually pleased to see her doing so well. Hotaru was just happy to have her favorite teacher visiting her. Which is why Michiru had invited him in for tea.

***********

Time passed quickly, as it always did in pleasant company, and soon Ranma found himself walking quietly down the road to his home, and sleep.

***********

Author's Notes: I've been asked by my pre-readers for a definition, so 

here it is. 

Hakubutsukan no Bugei: Hakubutsukan = Museum

Bugei = Martial Arts

Thus:Hakubutsukan no Bugei = Museum of 

Martial Arts

Or:Martial Arts' Museum

To the best of my knowledge, no it doesn't exist. 


End file.
